


The Fallen

by haunted_ella (Leviarty)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Episode: s05e22 Swan Song, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Pre-Slash, Road Trip, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-06-11
Updated: 2010-12-10
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:06:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 64
Words: 24,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leviarty/pseuds/haunted_ella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam is in Hell, Cas is in Heaven, and Dean is stuck somewhere in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 5x22 Swan Song, but I do change a few details. The prologue is mostly a recap and shows the slight changes I made.
> 
> I figure I should let you know now, just what you're getting yourself into. This fic was completed at 70 chapters, including prologue and epilogue. The chapters aren't incredibly long (ranging from 300 to 500 words each), but the fic as a whole is a descent length. This is part one in The Family Business Series, there will be three parts.
> 
> This will eventually be a kid!fic, but mpreg squicks me out, so I don't go into any kind of detail. Just thought I throw that out there, just in case. I swear, you really don't have anything to worry about if it squicks you out too.
> 
> Happy reading.
> 
> Oh, if you anyone has Twitter out there, feel free to follow me @[Ellalah](http://twitter.com/Ellalah). I have random rants about nonsense, but I also talk a lot about whatever fics I'm working on, if you're interested.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a family is torn apart. 

Sam said yes to the devil in Detroit. They had all finally agreed that it was the only chance they had, even if it was a far fetched one.

They had a plan. They had the four rings. Sam would say yes. He would battle Lucifer in his mind. He would jump in pit that Dean would open. That would be the end of it.

But, as usual, things didn’t go quite according to plan.

The devil saw them coming. He knew about the rings. He knew their plan.

They went through with it anyway, because it didn’t change things, Sam still had a chance, no matter how tiny.

So he said yes and Lucifer took over his body. The battle for control of the vessel waged inside for a few moments, then Lucifer won. Sam wasn’t strong enough.

A month passed, Lucifer in control of Sam’s body. Michael had Adam and he didn’t need Dean.

But for a month nothing happened. Lucifer ran about, causing random chaos. But the epic battle that was supposed to happen between he and Michael was still to be had.

Chuck said it had something to do with timing, that the battle was supposed to begin at a very precise moment in time. He didn’t know when yet, but he promised to let Dean know the instant he found out.

They’d always been just a step behind Lucifer, but when it was finally time for the final battle to begin, Dean arrived just in time, Bobby and Cas right behind him.

He drove the Impala right up to Lucifer and Michael, blaring music he knew Sam hated.

Cas did something stupid to get Michael away long enough for Dean to have a chance to talk to Sam, and he got killed for his effort. Dean screamed as Cas was blown to bits. A moment later, he snapped Bobby’s neck. He was freaking out on the inside, but he couldn’t deal with it then. He had to help Sammy.

“I’m here Sammy,” he began. He talked at him, while Lucifer beat him to a bloody pulp. He talked at him about nothing that really mattered, but he talked anyway. He had to give him strength.

He was pressed up against the car, barely conscious, when something caught Sam’s eyes, a tiny, green army man shoved in the door. It had been there since they were kids. And it was enough.

He stumbled backward as Dean fell to the ground.

“It’s okay Dean,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I’ve got him.” He tossed the rings to the ground and opened the cage. With one last smile to his brother, he let himself fall in.

The cage closed and Dean wept for the three people he’d just lost, what had been left of his family: his brother, his father, and his angel. 


	2. Echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bobby is given a gift and Castiel is given a choice.

Sam jumped into the hole. He was gone. Forever.

Dean was driving the Impala, Cas fast asleep in the seat next to him. God had brought him back again, him and Bobby.

_“Angels don’t sleep,”_ Sam’s voice echoed in his mind.

Sammy was gone.

Dean was worried about Cas. Like Sam had said, he shouldn’t have been asleep, he shouldn’t have bloody wounds all over. He was an angel, he shouldn’t have been so human.

Sam had jumped into the hole.

He was worried about Bobby too. He was driving the truck somewhere ahead of them, but how long would that last? How long before Crowley returned his soul and took his legs?

Sam was gone.

-

“You have betrayed your brethren,” Michael’s voice echoed. “You have killed countless Angels and you have disregarded Heaven’s orders.”

Castiel’s head was bowed, his eyes focused on his feet.

“But, we are giving you a second chance. You can be an angel again, return to Heaven.”

“What?” he asked, his head jerking up in surprise.

“It appears that God’s will for you is not what we would have it. And for that we offer you another chance.”

Castiel was silent a moment. “You claim to know God’s will?”

“He has resurrected you, not once, but twice,” Raphael said. “He must have a reason.”

“Maybe he just likes me,” Cas shrugged, somewhat smugly.

“You’ve spent too much time amongst the Humans,” Raphael spat.

 “Wasn’t it you who said, just a few months ago that God was dead?” Cas asked.

“Enough,” Michael interjected forcefully. “Past offences are voided. This is a one time chance Castiel: return to heaven, fully reinstated, or stay amongst the humans, as one of them. What is your choice?”

Castiel was silent a while longer. How was he supposed to choose?

On the one hand, being an Angel was the only thing he’d ever known, Heaven was his home for millennia. Could he give up the only things he’d ever known?

On the other hand, he’d learned more as a human for just a few weeks than he had learned in most of his time as an angel. Could he give up his chance at being human?

-

Bobby stood in the doorway, staring at the abandoned wheelchair. His legs felt weak just looking at it. He didn’t want to be stuck in the chair again, he was so useless. But the moment Crowley returned his soul, his legs were gone. It almost made him consider…

“Keep them,” a voice said from behind him.

He turned. “What?”

“Your soul is yours again. Keep the legs,” Crowley said before disappearing.

-

He was falling, falling, falling. For a moment, he felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole. Longer than just a moment.

He – they fell for what felt like eternity. Neither entity, Sam nor Lucifer, was completely in control of the vessel.

They fell forever, never catching sight of the bottom of the pit.


	3. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cas has to choose and Dean loses something important.

“What’s the matter Cas?” Dean asked when the angel jerked awake.

“I-” he started, but was unsure where to begin.

Dean looked at him worriedly as he parked the car in Bobby’s yard. Both of them climbed out of the car, Cas silent, Dean never taking his eyes off him.

“I have been offered a chance to return to my position in Heaven,” Cas said finally.

“Oh,” Dean said after a moment.

“I have been given time to consider. Half an hour on Earth at best.”

“You don’t know what to choose?” Dean asked. He would have thought Cas would have taken the deal in an instant.

“If I say no, I will be completely fallen, human, unable to return to what has been my home for centuries. If I say yes, I may never be able to return to Earth. I am unsure of what to do.”

Dean pondered the predicament for a moment. “You’ve gotta return home, don’t you?” he said, going against everything he wanted to say. He’d already lost Sam and he wasn’t sure he can handle losing Cas right now. But how could he ask him to stay? This wasn’t his home, wasn’t where he belonged. He never should have even been here in the first place. He wouldn’t be having to choose if it hadn’t been for Dean.

“That is what you want?” Cas asked. “For me to leave?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want. This is your choice.”

“But what is it you want?” Cas asked, because he needed to hear it, even if he didn’t want to.

Dean isn’t sure how to answer at first. “I want the people I care about to stop leaving,” he said finally.

“And you… you care about me?”

Dean doesn’t answer.

“Then tell me to stay,” Cas said, his voice barely audible.

Dean didn’t know what to say. So he didn’t say anything. He took a step forward and pressed his lips into Cas’. He pulled away a moment later and rested his forehead against the other man’s.

“Stay,” he whispered. “Please stay.”

And just like that, Cas was gone and Dean was standing next to the Impala, completely alone.

“FUCK!!” He screamed, slamming his already bloodied fist into the window of the car. He’d pushed too hard. What had he been so stupid?

When he walked into the house almost an hour later, Bobby was wandering up and down the stairs for no apparent reason.

Bobby stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked at Dean, who was standing in the foyer, his eyes blank, void of all emotion. He’s nearly catatonic, but Bobby figured it was gonna be a long time before he got over what had happened to Sam, if he ever got over it.

“Where’s Cas?” Bobby asked.

“Gone,” Dean shrugged.

“Gone? What do ya mean, _gone_?”

“The angels offered to let him back in.”

“And he said yes?” Bobby asked skeptically.

Dean shrugged again. “Looks that way.”


	4. Existance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean tries to keep a promise to Sam, but doesn't live an apple pie life.

Dean tried to go to Lisa after he left Bobby, he tried to live an apple pie life, but he never quite made it there. There was a rugaru in Minnesota, so he’d taken a little detour to take care of it. Then there was a vamp nest in Delaware, then a ghost haunting in Illinois. So he never got around to going to Lisa. And maybe that was okay, because would it have even worked out? Could he have lived that ‘apple pie’ life, knowing all the evil that existed in the world?

He spent the next three months hunting random evil. He didn’t talk to anyone from his past. Cas never came down for a visit, though Dean wasn’t really surprised. Chuck didn’t call, but that isn’t anything new, though Dean took it as a blessing that nothing truly horrible was just around the corner. Bobby called every now and then, probably to send a case his way. Dean never answered though, and Bobby never persisted.

He hardly slept, but when he did, the dreams were horrible. Worse than they were even after he’d first come back from hell. Sam was suffering in his dreams, and it makes it all that much worse that he knew it was real.

Every once in a while, the dreams weren’t so bad. No one was in hell and no one was being tortured. Sam was back and he was with this little blonde wife who Dean swears he knew, though he knew he’d never met. They had two abnormally tall kids.

And in the dream, Dean was happy too, because Cas was on Earth and human and they had three kids themselves, two boys and a girl that Dean swore was a near carbon copy of himself.

He never saw Bobby, and he got the impression that he’d died fighting something big and ugly, but somehow, the fact that he was dead seemed okay, because he’d died fighting, just like he would have wanted.

Jo was there, somehow. Dean didn’t understand it because Ellen was still dead and they had died together, but he doesn’t question it, because Jo was happy too. She’s got a husband and kids and she was alive and she was happy.

They were all happy.

Sometimes he thought God must have had a really sick sense of humor because, in Dean’s mind, it made perfect sense that he was sending Dean these dreams just to play games with his head, to poke fun at his pitiful existence, ‘Nananananana!’


	5. Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean follows a shapeshifter in Georgia.

There’s a Shapeshifter in Georgia. The only thing Dean hated more than Georgia is Shapeshifters.

“Excuse me Ma’am,” he said, entering the bank and walking up to one of the tellers.

“How can I help you sir?” she asked with an all too chipper smile.

He held up a fake badge. “Special Agent Lee. I’m here about the robbery three days ago.”

He hated these cases with a passion. They were always the same: Shapeshifter kills some poor schlep, then uses their identity to steal everything they could get the grimy little hands on.

“The police already came about that,” the girl said. “They said Mayor Wilkins was responsible. Got the tapes prove it.”

“And where is Mr. Wilkins?”

“Skipped town right after. Cops never caught up with him,” she shrugged.

“Think I can take a look at the security tapes?” Dean asked.

She shrugged again. “I don’t see why not. Follow me,” she added, leading him to the elevator.

He studied the tapes carefully. There was no doubt about it, it was a Shapeshifter. But it was gone now. He searched for almost two days, looking for any high profile robberies nearby, but the lead had gone cold.

He’d been following this thing for weeks, through six cities. How had it just disappeared?

He hopped into the Impala and started to drive, waiting for a case to come his way.

His cell phone rang from the empty seat next to him. He picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. Bobby. He hit the ignore button and threw it back into the seat, just as he’s done every time before.

Not five minutes later, the phone rang again. Bobby.

“Yeah,” he answered after the second ring. He wouldn’t have called again if it wasn’t truly important.

“There’s something in New Mexico you need to check out.”


	6. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean goes to New Mexico and finds something he hadn't expected.

Bobby wasn’t very specific about New Mexico. There was a hospital in some no-name town where something kinda weird happened. Bobby didn’t give him many more details than that, just to ask to speak to Nurse Selene, but Dean didn’t push for details, Bobby knew something more, but Dean figured he’d eventually figure it out on his own. He didn’t let himself hope that it was Sam.

So he made a little detour to New Mexico, home of the absolutely nothing interesting, and arrived in the hospital Bobby sent him to dressed in his standard cheap suit.

“Excuse me, Miss,” he said, approaching the nurses station. He held up his badge. “I need to speak with Nurse Selene.”

“That’s me,” she said. “Direction Shepard said you’d be coming for him. I still don’t really get what the FBI wants with the guy.”

“Well, to be honest, neither do I, I just follow orders. What can you tell me about the patient?”

She motioned for him to follow her down the hallway. “Male, late thirties. He was found unconscious in the desert a month and a half ago. He was dehydrated and malnourished. The doctors couldn’t figure out why, but he was in a coma, brain dead. Until two days ago, when he woke up,” she said. “The doctors are totally baffled. Here’s his room. You can talk to him, just try not to get him too worked up. He was spouting a bunch of religious nonsense yesterday and it’s not exactly fun to deal with.”

Dean gave her an odd look as she walked away, then pushed the large door open and entered the room.

What he saw on the other side was not what he had been expecting.

“Cas.”

Cas looked up at him, utterly perplexed.

“Do I know you?” he asked, curiously.

“What?” Dean asked, nothing fully registering in his mind.

“Do I know you?” he asked again. “I feel like I know you, but I don’t remember. The doctor said I have amnesia,” he said, over enunciating the last word.

When Dean’s motor functions returned a moment later, he couldn’t help but think Cas looked a lot like a small child, sitting there eating jello awkwardly, like he wasn’t entirely comfortable with his hands, looking up at Dean, as though he must have had all the answers to everything.

“I’m Dean,” he said. “What _do_ you remember?”

“I remember… my name is Cas- Cas- Cas-”

“Castiel,” Dean supplied.

“Yes, Castiel. You called me Cas when you walked in though,” he stated.

“Yeah, that’s what I called you.”

“So I do know you?” he asked, poking at his jello.

“Yeah, for about two years. What else do you remember?”

“I remember being in Heaven, I was an Angel. But I heard the doctor talking, he thinks I have some sort of, I believe he called it a ‘God-complex’, because I dreamt myself as a pivotal figure in stopping the apocalypse. But it doesn’t feel like a dream. Was it a dream?”

Dean was quiet a moment. “No, it wasn’t a dream.”

He listened to Cas’ story, everything he remembered. The memories were scattered, but he seemed to remember almost everything from the last two years, he just didn’t remember Dean. Or even Sam or Bobby or any other humans.


	7. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Castiel begins to remember.

Dean had gone to the nurse and requested that Cas be released.

“I’m sorry sir,” Nurse Selene had said. “But Dr. Cavanaugh wants a full psych work up done before he’s released.”

Dean nodded in understanding, then left.

That night, Cas’ dreams were plagued with images of Heaven and Hell, memories. Some of them were crystal clear, but many ware fuzzy, as though parts were missing.

“Cas, wake up,” a voice said quietly, shaking him awake.

“Dean?” he replied wearily.

Dean’s heart skipped a beat. Did he remember him? But then he realized that he must have just remembered from meeting him yesterday.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s me. Come on.” He tossed some clothes his way. “Get dressed, I’m breaking you outa here.”

Dean sneaked him out of the hospital and into the Impala. Cas was silent and Dean was worried. What had happened to Cas after he left?  What was he doing on Earth? Why was he Human? He had a million questions running through his mind, but he never voiced a single one.

“I brought you out of hell,” Cas finally said half an hour down the road to Bobby’s.

Dean looked over at him. “You remember?”

“Not much,” he said. “Just going into hell. Searching for you. You were important. I found you and I dragged you out.”

“Left a mark too,” Dean muttered, focusing on the empty road ahead of them.

“What do you mean?” Cas asked after a moment of thought.

Dean rolled up his sleeve until the now faint handprint was visible.

Cas stared at it for a while.

“I did this?” he asked finally.

Dean nodded. “You Angels have some crazy ass powers,” he said.

Cas reached his hand out to the markings left on Dean’s shoulder. “I hurt you.”

Dean shrugged. “Doesn’t really bother me.”

Cas’ hand made contact with Dean’s shoulder and both gasped…


	8. Cascade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cas remembers and the boys start a road trip.

Cas placed his hand over the handprint on Dean’s shoulder. Both gasped at the contact. At that moment, Dean was very glad they were driving down an empty highway, because his vision was flooded with white, then a thousand memories began to flash before his eyes. He couldn’t see the road anymore.

The memories were of the last two years, every moment he and Cas had spent together, from when the Angel had walked into the barn through the cascade of sparks. The images sped through his mind, as though they were on fast forward, right up until the last. The visions slowed to a normal speed at their last moment, their first kiss, and Dean begging him not to go.

Cas pulled his hand away sharply, as though burned.

“I remember,” he said quietly.

They were both silent a while longer, neither knowing exactly what to say.

“I did not leave you of my own free will,” Cas eventually said.

“What happened?” Dean asked. “After you left?”

“The Angels… they dragged me back into heaven, awaiting my answer. I told them I wished to remain on Earth. Michael and the others were not pleased.”

“You were going to say?” Dean interjected, shocked.

“Of course,” he said. And then “You thought I was going to choose Heaven, after everything that has happened?”

“After you disappeared, I just thought…” he didn’t finish.

They’re quiet again.

“They finally agreed to completely strip my powers and send me back to Earth, but not to you. That was my punishment, to lose all memory of you.”

“You remember now,” Dean pointed out.

“They could never make me truly forget you Dean.”

-

They returned to Bobby’s for a few days. It was the first time since Sam was sent to Hell that they’d seen each other. It’s good. It’s sad, but it’s good.

They didn’t talk much, there wasn’t much to say.

Bobby eventually headed up to bed, leaving them downstairs. They’d both stayed their long enough in the past to know where all the linens were and that there was a cot in the panic room someone could sleep on, but Dean never moved from the lumpy chair in the living room. He sat and watched as Cas fell asleep on the couch.

He worried. About Cas. He was like a child with his newfound humanity. He couldn’t go out and do stupid shit anymore. He was mortal now, subject to mortal laws, like death, and Dean wasn’t sure Cas realized that yet.

Bobby came down the stairs a while later for a midnight snack, to find Dean sitting in the chair, still watching Cas. He didn’t say anything as he walked past the room.

“Thanks Bobby,” Dean said, because it needed to be said. If he hadn’t found Cas and sent Dean after him, he may never have found him.


	9. Orange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bobby is randomly obsessive compulsive.

“How many hunters are you tracking with this?” Dean asked, inspecting the map. It was large and covered most of the kitchen wall, and it was covered in multicolored tacks.

“Twenty or thirty,” Bobby said. “It’s color coordinated based on what kind of creature. Black is demon possession, blue is ghosts, red is vampires, brown is werewolves, purple is Shapeshifters, green is miscellaneous other monsters, white is the hunters.”

“What about the orange?” Cas asked, noticing several oranges across the board.

Bobby sighed. “Orange means I have no idea what it is, but that it should still be checked out.”

“You got really bored this summer,” Dean muttered. He then noticed several purple tacks connected by a string. “Hey, I was hunting this Shapeshifter. Did you have somebody out there?”

“In case ya hadn’t noticed, there are a lot more colored dots that there are hunters.”

“I just mean, I lost him, the trail went cold. I thought maybe there was another hunter out there.”

“Almost every hunter there is reports back to me. I don’t know of anybody being out there,” Bobby said as his phone began ringing. He answered with a disgruntled “What?”

He spent the next several minutes muttering into his phone as he paced back and forth in the hallway.

He hung up and walked back into the kitchen, rubbing his neck.

“Any chance I could get you boys to check out what’s going on over in Montana?”

“Sure,” Dean shrugged, glancing over at Cas to see if he had any objections. He didn’t. “What are we dealing with?”

“Hell if I know,” Bobby said, shoving an orange pin and two white ones into the map somewhere on the western edge of Montana. “The town had a poltergeist there about fifteen years back. Woman there knew to call me when strange things started happenin’.”

Dean grabbed his coat and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s hit the road Cas,” he said.


	10. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean and Cas start hunting.

Dean and Cas arrived in Montana with only a few short stops along the way. The town Bobby sent them too was tiny and full of people who were incredibly suspicious of them.

They spoke to the woman who called Bobby, a Samantha Preston. She explained what had been happening. Three girls had disappeared about a week before, never to be heard from. Then, just a few days ago, a teen and his kid brother had gone for a hike through the woods. The boy had returned a few days later, the older brother missing. The boy was traumatized and screaming about monsters eating his brother. When asked to describe the monsters, he said they looked like the three girls who had disappeared, but with razor sharp teeth. When the brother’s body had been found, it had been ripped to shreds. Two other bodies had been found with it. Four more have disappeared since.

“Vampires probably,” Dean said. “But I’d like to talk to the kid, just to be sure.”

“They live at 2323 Windsong Circle,” Samantha told them.

“Please leave,” the boy’s mother had said when they arrived at the house and explained who they were. “My son has been through a horrific ordeal. He’s already had to answer questions from the local police, and now there sending in four FBI agents? My son is traumatized! Please just leave us alone!”

Dean and Cas left the house without any further questions. They climbed into the Impala, and drove down the road to the motel they were staying in. They quickly changed into clothing more conducive to hunting, then hit the road headed for the location where the bodies had been found.

Dean stopped at an empty intersection, seemingly obeying traffic laws, but when he didn’t make any move to go, Cas began to wonder.

“I believe you can go Dean,” he pointed out.

Dean didn’t move.

“Dean? What is the matter?”

“The kid’s mom… she said they’d sent four FBI agents. There are only two of us.”

“Maybe she misspoke,” Cas offered.

“Maybe,” Dean said, letting off the break and heading down the road. “Or maybe we’ve got real Feds in town to worry about.”


	11. Worried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are vampires and ... well, I don't wanna spoil it for ya.

When Dean and Cas went to raid the lair, a rundown shack about a mile out of town, they found two beheaded vampires and four dry corpses. The three vampires appeared to be the three girls who’d gone missing first. The four corpses were the most recent disappearances.

Cas went to the victims as Dean checked out the rest of the building, checking for anyone else.

Dean had just turned his back when he heard a yelp. He spun around, his gun ready, to see one of the victims, who was now kinda undead, holding Cas in the air by his throat.

“Hey bitch!” he shouted. She turned and bared her ugly teeth at him as he stepped closer. She dropped Cas to the ground and rushed at Dean. He didn’t hesitate to shoot her in the face with a round of silver bullets, then, just to make sure she was really, really dead, he sliced her head off.

Dean was silent the whole way back to the motel and Cas could tell he was angry, pissed even.

“What is the matter Dean?” he finally asked as they pulled into a parking space.

Dean shook his head. “Just wanna know what hunter killed those things,” he said.

Cas studied him for a moment. “But that is not what is making you angry,” he said as they walked into the motel room.

Dean didn’t respond.

“What is it Dean? What is it that is bothering you?”

“You, goddamn it,” he exclaimed.

Cas was taken aback and didn’t quite understand what Dean was saying.

“You go in there acting like you always have, like you’re an angel and invincible and whatnot. Well, guess what? You’re not! You’re human now, Cas! You can’t just rush in, half-cocked, and expect everything to work out! It’ll get you killed,” he shouted. Then, much quieter, he added “It could’ve gotten you killed today.”

Cas stared at him intently.

“You are worried about me,” he stated.

Dean didn’t respond because he knew what he was implying.

Cas took several steps closer to him with a small smile on his face. “You are worried about me,” he repeated, just before kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then they have sex.
> 
> No, really, they do.


	12. Unconditional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is awkward sex and accidental bonding...

The first time they have sex, it was awkward and strange. Neither of them is really sure what their doing, Cas never having had sex, and Dean never having had sex with a man.

When he wakes up the next morning, Dean feels.. kinda fantastic. He kinda hated it. No. He didn’t hate it. And that was what freaked him out a little bit.

He climbed out of bed and got dressed. He pulled the door open and, with a quick look at the still sleeping form of Cas, he left.

He walked down the street to the corner store to pick up breakfast.

“Nice tat,” a woman in the store said as he reached for something on one of the shelves.

“Hmm?” he replied. She nodded towards his outstretched arm. He looked down, perplexed.

“It’s a nice tattoo,” she said.

“Thanks,” he muttered in response, wondering where in the hell it had come from.

He returned to the motel, two coffees and a bag of donuts in hand, just as Cas was waking up.

“Morning,” he said, setting the food on the coffee table.

“Good morning Dean,” the fallen angel greeted as he got dressed.

“Do you know what this is?” Dean asked after a few moments of silence. He held out his left arm. Cas took a few steps closer to examine the fine lettering wrapping around Dean’s wrist. It was faint, but noticeable. He then inspected his own wrist, somewhat shocked. Similar lettering was on his arm as well.

“Oh,” Cas breathed quietly. “I had not realized.”

“Realized what Cas? What is it?”

“It would seem they were not completely successful in removing all of my grace…” he mumbled.

“What is it Cas? What does it mean?”

Cas was quiet for a moment, trying to find a way to explain it. “Long ago, before it was forbidden that angels fall in love… this was a symbol of the bond between two angels.” He took Dean’s hand and lightly traced over the symbols on his wrist. “This is my name.” Then he traced the symbols on his own arm. “And this is yours. But I had not realized…”

“Realized what?”

“It was rare,” he said. “Even in the old days, it was rare for the symbols to appear. Almost unheard of. It only happened when the love between them was ultimate, unconditional.” Cas looked up from their hands into Dean’s eyes. “I had not realized.”


	13. Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bobby sends the boys on a mission.

It had been almost a month since everything that had happened in Montana, from the non-incident with the vampires, to the waking up in bed with each others names carved in their wrists in Enochian.

_“I’m not an angel,” Dean had pointed out after understanding what it meant._

Cas had said that didn’t matter, that it had happened between Angels and Humans before. What had surprised Cas was that, A) it had appeared at all, given that he was no longer an Angel, and B) that Dean had cared enough about him.

Since then, the marking had gone, slowly, from pale and hardly visible, to blacker than black. Dean couldn’t help but smile a little bit as he looked at them, then at the sleeping form of Cas sitting next to him in the Impala.

Being bonded to an angel, even if he hardly was one, was what Dean imagined it would be like to be bonded to a Vulcan.

“You’re thinking quite loudly,” Cas muttered sleepily.

“Sorry,” Dean smiled. He’d kinda forgotten Cas could hear his thoughts now.

“Not always,” Cas pointed out. “Just sometimes.”

“How come I can’t hear your thoughts?”

“You aren’t listening hard enough,” Cas replied. It was a moment before Dean realized he hadn’t actually spoken.

Dean smiled as his phone began to ring from the backseat.

“Will you grab that?” he asked. Cas reached over the seat and into Dean’s coat.

“Hello?” he said when he answered.

“_Cas?_” Bobby said on the other end. “_I need you guys to check out a haunting in Oakridge, California._”

“Ask him if he’s heard anything from the other hunters,” Dean said.

“Dean wants to know if you’ve heard from the other hunters,” Cas repeated.

“_Let me talk to him_,” Bobby replied, knowing it would be easier than Cas being the intermediary.

“Yeah Bobby, what’ve you heard?” Dean asked when he took the phone.

“_No one’s actually seen anything, but I’ve got two complaints that someone got to the kill before our guys._”

“So it’s safe to say we’ve got someone out there killing monsters under our noses,” Dean said as he hung up the phone and turned onto a new stretch of highway that would lead them to California.

“Perhaps it’s just a hunter,” Cas offered.

“A hunter that no one’s ever seen?” Dean said. “Could be. But it still worries me.”


	14. Offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a prison and a crossroads.

The prison they shared in the pit wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either. They had split apart now, two, separate entities sharing their cell.

They seemed to be in constant motion, their falling never ceased, whether it be during a torture session or in the times between.

“You are weak,” Lucifer told him as Sam shook himself to sleep after a particularly brutal session.

“You’re the one that wanted me as a vessel,” Sam muttered.

He was beginning to wonder how it was that Dean had managed to survive as long as he had. The torture was horrible, unimaginably painful. Even if the torture he was receiving was far worse than what Dean had, which he had no doubt that it was, Sam just couldn’t see how Dean had made it for thirty years, when he could hardly make it through three weeks.

-

A woman paced back and forth across the crossroads, waiting. She had curly blonde hair that bounced with each step and a look of pure determination on her face.

“You’re lucky I came,” a voice said from behind her. She turned to see a brunette standing several feet away. The brunette’s eyes flashed black. “We don’t like to deal with your kind.”

“You’ll want this deal,” the blonde said. “But I’m not making it with you. I want your boss. I want to speak to Crowley.”

The demon stared at her as though she must have been insane. “And what makes you think he wants to talk to you?”

“I’ve got an offer he can’t refuse.”

The demon was silent for a while and the blonde knew she must have been communicating with her boss.

“Fine,” the demon finally said. “But not here, not now. He’ll come to you when he gets a chance.”

The blonde pursed her lips. “Fine,” she said.

The demons nodded then disappeared.


	15. Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean is stressed and Cas wants sex.

“This is ridiculous!” Dean shouted, slamming the motel door closed behind him.

“Calm down Dean. It’s not the end of the world,” Cas said, then considered the statement. “We should know.”

“I know it’s not the end of the damn world, but I’m getting really sick of this! This is the fifth time in less than three weeks!”

“You act as though it is a bad thing,” Cas said. “Shouldn’t it make your life easier knowing that there are others out there killing evil?”

“No! Clearly it’s stressing me out!”

“Shh,” Cas whispered, pressing their lips together. Dean melted into the kiss (not that he’d ever tell anyone that) and kissed him back for a moment before pulling away with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“Stop that,” he said. “I want to rant and be angry!”

“Yes, and I want to have sex,” Cas pouted.

Dean stared at him for a moment, then seemed to find the whole situation truly hilarious because he then doubled over laughing.

“What is so funny?”

“No…thing… It’s just… I’m usually… the one… wanting sex,” he said in between his laughter.

Cas didn’t find it nearly as amusing. Mostly, he was confused. “Since our relationship began, I have never been unwell to have sex,” he said.

“No, I mean, in all the other relationships I’ve had,” Dean clarified. “It’s usually me that instigates the sex.”

“Yes, well, I’m not like you’re past lovers,” Cas said, kissing him again, this time more forcefully.

Dean’s cell phone rang and he had half a mind to answer it until Cas’ hand found their way down to Dean’s pants and began to unbutton them.

“You’ll call them back later,” Cas whispered.

“Uh huh,” Dean mumbled, having no objections.

-

“Idjit,” Bobby grumbled, tossing his phone aside. Dean bugged and bugged about finding whoever was killing monsters, then the moment he had any useful information, Dean decided not to answer. Naturally. Idjit.


	16. Pinochle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bobby has news and Cas is weird.

Dean figured when Bobby called for the fourth time the next morning, that maybe he should answer the phone, even though he was really comfy and didn’t really want to move away from resting against Cas.

But Bobby had been calling practically non-stop and there must a good reason for it. Dean hoped to an absent god that it wasn’t another case that someone would beat them too.

“Yeah Bobby?” he answered tiredly.

“_Why haven’t you been answering your phone ya idjit?!_” bobby shouted through the phone. Dean didn’t answer the question because he knew that Bobby didn’t really want to know, even if he thought he did.

“Sorry Bobby, what’s up?”

Bobby sighed heavily. “_I think I found yer mystery hunters,” he said. “I’ve been tracking them for a few months, trying to find a pattern_.”

Dean sat upright. “Where?”

“_A little town just outside of Westchester. About an hours drive from where you are._”

“Thanks Bobby.”

“_Be careful_,” he managed to reply before Dean slammed the phone shut.

“Hey Cas,” Dean said, shaking him awake. “Get dressed, Bobby thinks he found them.”

“But the turtles,” Cas mumbled in his sleep.

Dean gave him an odd look. “What turtles?”

“The sea turtles. They’re playing pinochle on my tap shoes!”

Dean stopped what he was doing and just stared as Cas, wondering what the hell was wrong with him and why on earth he even liked him at all.

“Cas, wake up!” he shouted after a moment.

Cas jerked awake. “Hmm?”

“Dude, you’re weird. Get dressed,” he repeated. “Bobby thinks he’s found our guys. We should catch up with them before they get even further ahead.” He threw Cas’ clothes at him and continued packing away his things. They were on the road, driving considerably faster than any legal limit, in less than ten minutes.


	17. Agents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean ponders butterflies and the boys find something surprising.

When they arrive in Monarch, the small town Bobby had led them to, Dean can’t help but wonder about two things. One, why on earth anyone would name a town after a butterfly (or was it that the butterfly was named after the town), and why it seemed that every time something weird happened, it happened in small towns.

“I highly doubt the butterfly was named after the town,” Cas mumbled sleepily, having gone back to sleep within moments of them hitting the road.

Several minutes later, Cas was fully awake and the duo was wandering into the police station, if it could be called that with only two officers and one cell housing a chronic drunk named Howard.

“Agents Hetfield and Hammett,” Dean said as both flashed FBI badges to the cop inside the station. “We’re looking for a couple of federal agents who have been investigating the Satterfield disappearance.”

“Agents Bonham and Jones?” the man asked. “They’re staying over in the Freedmont Inn. Why’d the FBI send you guys, they said the case was closed?”

Dean and Cas look at each other. “Just assurance,” Dean answered. “The Freedmont Inn, you said?”

“Yeah, it’s just ‘round the corner. I can have someone walk you there if you need,” he offered.

“Na, we’ll be okay,” Dean said before they exit. They drive around the block and find the Inn with little trouble (it only had three rooms, what a shock). They go in and talk to the manager, then go to room seven.

Cas wondered absently why there was a room seven when there were only three rooms, but Dean had ceased to care. They were just inches from finding out who’d but three steps ahead of them for months.

Dean reached out to knock on the door, paused for a moment, then knocked.

“Who is it?” a young woman’s voice called from within.

Dean paused. Something about that voice sounded so familiar, and that compelled him to abandon his cover and say “Dean Winchester.”

Hardly a second passed before the door was wrenched open and a young blonde was standing in the doorway.

“Dean?” she said, shocked.

Dean and Cas just stared at her, both utterly shocked.

“Jo.”


	18. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things begin to look up, whilst looking down.

When Dean and Cas hit the road again, he couldn’t help but think that things were really starting to look up. He and Cas were happy, and Bobby was walking and Jo and Ellen were alive, god knew how…

Come to think of it, God probably had something to do with it. He’d been being rather nice to Team Free Will lately.

After having splashed a bottle of holy water on both Jo and Ellen, then had each of them cut themselves with a silver blade, they sat down and listened to their story.

They’d woken up behind a bar in Toledo a few days after they’d blown up. They had no idea how they got their or how they were alive. They’d tried to contact Sam or Dean or Bobby, but they couldn’t, so they’d just gone on hunting, figuring maybe they’d run into somebody eventually.

“You would have,” Dean had told them. “If you hadn’t been two days ahead of us the whole way.”

Dean drove the Impala off the highway and towards the nearest town, looking in his rearview mirror to make sure the girls in the big red truck behind him followed. It was nearly midnight and they’d been driving for hours and he was tired.

And there was no way in hell he was letting Cas drive while he got some shut eye, not after what had happened last time.

Dean and Cas pulled into a motel climbed out of the car, Jo and Ellen not far behind them.

As Dean locked the Impala doors, he noticed a blonde woman standing on the porch of a nearby convenience store, watching them intently. She looked away a moment later and started conversing with an older man. He couldn’t help but think there was something familiar about her.

They checked into their hotel rooms for the night, washed up, and went to bed.

Dean wrapped an arm around Cas as they fell asleep. Things weren’t so bad these days. They were happy. The girls were alive and everything was good.

The only thing that was missing was Sam.


	19. Followed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a stalker and an angel.

The drove the rest of the way to Bobby’s the next morning, surprising him with the news about the Harvilles. They stay there together for a few days before their hunting expertise is needed and they go off their separate ways. At least now they won’t be double booking every other mission.

Dean and Cas arrived in Sacramento to deal with their third haunting in as many weeks.

Cas looked over his shoulder as they walked through the downtown area, looking for the library. “Dean, I believe we are being followed,” he said as he turned back.

Dean nodded. “She’s been following us since we found Jo and Ellen. Or, that’s when I noticed her at least.”

“We’re not going to do anything about it?”

“Not yet,” Dean replied. “I want to see what she does first. Does something about her seem familiar to you?”

Cas turned again to look at her. “She does not look familiar, but there is something about her.”

“Yeah…”

-

As Dean fell asleep that night, Cas in his arms once more, he couldn’t help but wonder when the hell he became a cuddler.

He felt like he’d only been asleep a moment before he jerks awake. He sat upright, only to realize that he wasn’t in some crap motel, and Cas was nowhere to be seen.

“Yes, it’s a dream,” a voice said from behind him. He spun around quickly, somehow standing now.

“Michael,” Dean said, a hint of disgust dripping from his voice. He appeared to him in a vessel Dean didn’t recognize, but he still knew it was him.

“Got it in one,” he replied.

“What do you want?”

“No need to be rude. I just wanted to tell you there’s a way to get your brother back.”

“What?” Dean asked, suddenly interested.

“You can bring him back, with little risk of pulling Lucifer out as well,” Michael said.

Dean got skeptical then. “Why are you be telling me this? If you had any real reason for pulling him out, you’d do it yourself, and I just can’t see why you’d want to do me a favor.”

“Because _I_ can’t do it Dean. Certain requirement must be met in order to release him. Requirements I can’t not meet.”

“And you think I can?”


	20. Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Michael has an unwelcome proposition.

“You must bleed a fallen angel over the seal,” Michael said.

“Bleed…”

“A fallen angel,” Michael repeated.

“Cas,” Dean breathed.

“You understand then. In order to bring back your brother, you must kill your lover.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Dean growled.

“You want your brother back; I am only telling you how to do it.”

“But why? Why do you give two shits what I want? What are you up to? What’s you’re hidden agenda?”

Michael stared at him for a moment. “I’ve given you the information; do with it what you will.” And just like that he was gone.

A moment later, Dean woke up, for real this time. He looked over as Cas, who was sleeping peacefully. Dean felt a tear run down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away, got out of the bed ad left the room.

He found himself walking down the streets, not really paying attention to where he was going. He eventually sat down on a bench the overlooked a children’s playground, though, it being past midnight, there were no children playing on it.

For a long time, Dean just sat there, thinking about absolutely nothing. His brain had ceased to function right around the time he woke up from the dream, and it had yet to start working again.

When it finally did start functioning, he kinda wished it hadn’t.

What the hell? Had Michael really visited him in his sleep to tell him to kill Cas…

Oh god, Cas.

Or had it been a dream?

He could feel another stray tear making it’s way down his cheek, but he ignored it.

If it was real, if he’d really just had that conversation, how the hell did Michael expect him to react to that? How was he supposed to choose between his brother and his angel?

Was it just a dream?

“It wasn’t a dream,” a voice said, sitting down beside him.


	21. Voice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a woman and half-broken promises.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean asked. He didn't need to look up to know that it was the woman that had been following them for nearly a month.

"Doesn't matter," the voice said. "You need to listen to me though."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you're entire future depends on it." It sounded a lot like a threat the way she said it.

Dean didn't say a word; he wasn't really sure how to respond, so he didn't, he just let the seemingly mad woman talk.

"I know what he told you," she said. "How you can save your brother…"

At that, Dean jerked his head up and looked her in the eyes.

"How the hell do you know about that?"

"Not now," she shushed. "Right now you need to listen to me when I tell you: don't do it."

"Was he lying?" Dean asked, figuring he might as well go along with this madness for a while, see where it led.

"No," she said. "Draining the blood of a fallen angel will most likely be enough to free your Sam. But that doesn't mean you should do it."

Dean was silently looking at his shoes, clearly not as sure.

"Are you seriously considering it!" the woman exclaimed.

Dean didn't respond.

"You promised him you wouldn't go poking at his cage," she said.

"I also promised him I'd be with Lisa. I'm not with her, am I?" Dean replied, not even questioning how she knew that.

"You promised him you'd be happy, and you are! And you're considering giving that up?"

Dean was quiet a moment longer. "It's Sammy," he said. The woman pretended not to notice that tears were falling freely down Dean's face now.

"If you do this, you will regret it for the rest of your life," she told him. "Believe me."

She stood up and began to walk away, then turned back to him just long enough to say "The sasquatch will find another way out," before disappearing completely.

Dean looked up at the spot she'd just been standing, wiped away his years, and went back to the motel room.


	22. Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cas goes missing and Crowley needs condoms.

Dean had intended to return to the motel, crawl back into bed with Cas, and forget everything that had happened that night… or, at the very least, try to forget.

But when he got back, Cas wasn’t in the bed, and he wasn’t in the bathroom, and he wasn’t at the ice machine because Dean had passed it on the way in.

So where the hell was he?

-

She was walking along the side of a deserted highway when she felt a demon presence behind her. She stopped walking but did not turn around.

“This had better be good,” the thick British voice said. “I don’t much like dealing with your kind. Makes me twitchy,” he shivered.

She half smiled as she turned to face him. “Oh, believe me, it is.”

“Annette says you’ve got a deal I can’t refuse, so let’s hear it,” Crowley replied.

“I want in,” the woman said.

Crowley raised an eyebrow.

“You misunderstand me,” she began to clarify.

“Oh no, I understand perfectly. I’m just a tad surprised as all. I mean, you, of all people. Never would have expected it. Not from you.”

“Yeah, well, things have changed.”

Crowley nodded. He understood how things could change. “So what exactly are you going to give me?” he asked.

“What do you want?”

Crowley pondered the thought for a moment. “You’re first born child,” he suggested.

The woman raised an eyebrow.

“Kidding,” he said. “How about this: protection.”

“You need me to buy you condoms?” she replied with a smirk.

“Funny. No. Protection from the Winchesters, from any hunters for that matter, but mostly the Winchesters. I hate to say it, but they’re strong-willed, for Humans. You promise me protection, and I'll get you what you want.”

The woman breathed in, contemplating the deal. “I'll do my best.”

“No! Absolute protection, or no deal.”

“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “Deal.”

Crowley kissed her violently.

“It’s been nice doing business with you,” he said with a grin.


	23. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cas is sacrificial and Dean is not.

Dean found Cas six blocks away, walking through the cold. Well, not so much found, as followed the funky angel bond they shared to his exact location. But found, nonetheless.

“What are you doing?” Dean asked, walking up beside him.

“What I have to.”

“Stop,” Dean said. He didn’t need to be able to read his mind to know what he was thinking.

Cas kept walking.

“Stop!” Dean said, again, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stop.

“I have to Dean,” he said, trying to wrench his arm away, but was unsuccessful.

“So what’s your plan? Walk all the way to Lawrence, then run yourself through with something sharp and pointy? Great plan Cas.”

“If it is the only way to save Sam, then I must,” Cas said.

“How’d you even find out?”

Cas looked down at his hand, which now rested loosely in Dean’s. “I saw when Michael came to you. Our minds are linked, remember.”

“Oh.”

“I saw what must be done, and I am prepared to do it. For you.”

“Please Cas, you’ve already given up so much for me, don’t do this.”

“All I have ever wanted is to make you happy Dean, and having Sam back will make you happy.”

“Not like this,” Dean said. “I can’t be happy knowing you gave you’re life like that. And Sam would hate it, he’d never forgive himself for your death. If it even works. And if it doesn’t, which there’s a good chance of, then I'll have lost both of you. I can’t do that, Cas.”

Cas watched their hands as Dean laced their fingers together.

“Please,” Dean whispered, pressing his lips to the corner of Cas’ mouth.

“Very well,” Cas gave in. Dean smiled at him, then linked their arms together in a way that Dean most certainly would _not_ consider a chick flick moment, then dragged him back to the motel.

“You know I’m not gonna take my eyes off you for a month,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. “You’re on suicide watch now buddy.”

Suddenly, ‘Ramble On’ started playing from with Dean’s pocket. He reached in an answered.

“_Dean? It’s Bobby_.” He sounded out of breath. “_Get here as quick as you can. There are demons. I think they’re after the_-” the line cut out.

Dean looked to Cas, eyes wide. Both took of in a dead run for the motel.


	24. Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bobby is in trouble.

Bobby knew within moments that there were demons on his property. He grabbed a shotgun and a handful of rock salt rounds and started shooting the moment they were within range.

He ran for the basement, knowing exactly what they were after and he wished to God that he’d had to good sense to have put it in the panic room.

He ran for the room, dialing Dean at the same time.

“Dean? It’s Bobby. Get here as quick as you can. There are demons. I think they’re after the-”

Then suddenly he froze and dropped the phone. The demon controlling him slammed him into a wall. He slid down, unconscious.

Two of the demons laugh stupidly as they watch him bleed out.

“Leave,” Crowley said, walking down the stairs. “I'll find it.”

He found the tiny engraved box with relative ease and was grateful it wasn’t in the panic room, otherwise the mission wouldn’t’ have been nearly as easy.

As he started for the stairs, he spotted Bobby lying on the floor, half conscious. He walked over to him and knelt at his side.

“I am truly sorry of this,” he said, sounding almost sincere. “You were not supposed to be injured. I assure you, they will be severely punished,” he added, before placing a light kiss on Bobby’s lips, then departing.

-

Dean and Cas hit the road as quickly as they could get everything into the car, drove well over the speed limit the entire time, and spent the first hour trying to contact any hunter that might have been closer to Bobby’s than they were.

“Jake and Simon are in New York hunting a werewolf,” Cas said, closing the phone, then opening it again to dial the next number.

“Who does that leave?” Dean asked.

“I’m calling Ellen and Jo now. No one else can get there any faster than we can.”


	25. Rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a ring is missing.

Jo and Ellen hadn’t been any closer to Bobby’s than Dean and Cas had been, but still made the drive and arrived at the junk yard just moments before the boys.

“Do we know what happened?” Ellen asked as the four ran into the house.

“Demons attacked. The line went dead before Bobby could say anything else,” Dean said.

“That was almost 20 hours ago,” Cas added. “We’ve been calling ever since, but there’s been no answer.”

“Do we know what they were after?” Jo asked.

“We’ve got a pretty good idea,” Dean answered, but didn’t elaborate. They crashed into the house, guns raised to shoot anything that moved.

But there was nothing. The house was silent. Too silent.

“Looks like they’ve cleared out,” Jo said after they checked almost every room in the house.

“Must’ve found whatever they were looking for,” Ellen said. “What was what exactly?”

Dean didn’t respond, but instead headed down the stairs into the basement. Cas, Jo and Ellen followed.

Dean stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs, causing the others to stop as well, their path blocked.

“What are we-” Jo started. “Oh god,” she breathed, her hand flying to her mouth as she dropped her gun to her side.

“Oh Bobby,” Ellen sighed. He was lying in a pool of blood, his eyes stuck wide open.

“What were they after Dean?” Ellen asked, more forcefully now. “Why’d they kill Bobby?”

Dean closed his eyes and sighed.

“One of the rings,” he said as Cas started toward the panic room.

“Rings?” Ellen asked. “You mean the Horsemen? The rings that open Lucifer’s prison?!”

Dean nodded. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“It’s not here Dean,” Cas said, walking back out of the panic room. “How could they have gotten it out of here?”

Dean shook his head. “I don’t know that he ever put it in the panic room. It was in an angel-proof box, he probably didn’t think it was necessary to put it in the demon proof room.”

“What?” Jo asked.

“After Sam… we took the rings and separated them. One here, one it Palo Alto, on in Pontiac, Illinois and one in Broward, Florida. Each was guarded against either demons or angels or both. That way, neither side could open the door without the other sides help, and we figured there was no way in heaven or hell that would happen.”

“This one was in an angel proof box,” Cas said.


	26. Pontiac

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are tears and a case of mistaken identity.

Dean, Cas, Jo and Ellen stand around the burning body of Bobby Singer, each wearing a solemn expression.

“Cas and I are gonna head to Illinois,” Dean said when the ceremonial burning was over. “Make sure the ring is still there. You guys head to Florida. There’s an empty field across from a Mystery Spot in Broward County. It’s buried in the center of the field.”

“Why a Mystery Spot?” Jo asked.

“It’s where Gabriel killed me about a hundred times over.”

Jo gave him an odd look, but didn’t question it further.

“We’ll take care of it,” Ellen said with a small nod.

-

Dean and Cas arrived in Pontiac, Illinois just a few hours after they left Bobby’s. They stopped to get some gas before driving the last few miles toward Dean’s former gravesite.

Dean climbed out of the car and began filling up the tank silently. He’d been silent most of the trip.

“I’m going for snacks,” Cas said, walking into the convenience store. Dean grunted in approval. A few minutes later, he walks back out with an armful of unhealthy foods just as Dean finished filling the gas.

“Dad?” a voice said. “Daddy?!” And then “Castiel.”

Cas turned, surprised.

“Oh,” he said, realizing who it was.

“You’re him, aren’t you? Castiel?” the girl asked.

“Yes,” he replied. He dumped the junk into the Impala and leaned in to talk to Dean for a moment. “Go ahead without me. Pick me up when you find it.” The ring was buried just a few minutes down the road and it would be no more than 15 minutes for Dean to drive there, find the ring, and drive back.

“Claire, right?” Cas asked as Dean drove away.

His vessel’s daughter nodded. “You’re different,” she said. “More… I don’t know…”

“Human?” he offered.

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

“I’ve been human for about seven months,” he replied.

“What about.. what about my dad?”

Cas was silent for a moment, pondering what exactly he should tell her. “He is dead. He died not long after you last saw him. This body is just a recreation.”

“Oh,” she said. A tear fell from her eyes.

“I am sorry,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have told you…”

“No!” she exclaimed. “I’m glad you did. I needed to know. Mom needs to know.”


	27. Always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is yelling and questions.

“No one was supposed to be injured!” the blonde woman yelled at Crowley.

“That’s rich coming from you,” he shot back. “You’ve probably killed as many people as I have.”

In a split second, she had him pinned against a nearby wall, his feet dangling a few inches off the floor. “Every person who ever died at my hand deserved what they got. And don’t you dare pretend that you and I are _anything_ alike.”

“We are exactly alike, you and I,” Crowley said with a smile. “Now, we had a deal. I got you what you needed and I’m giving you free range to do what ever the hell you need to. Let. Me. Go.”

She slammed him into the wall again, then released him.

“Fine. Where are they?”

Crowley reached into his coat pocket and retrieved two small boxes covered in angel warding magic and held them out to her.

She glared at him.

“You know I can’t open those.”

He rolled his eyes, opened the boxes and pulled a ring out of each, then handed them to her.

“Thank you,” she said through gritted teeth. She took no pleasure in working with him. Then she turned and walked away.

“Don’t forget our deal!” he shouted after her.

“I won’t,” she replied. Then under her breath, she added “dick.”

Then, with a flutter of her wings, she disappeared and reappeared just outside Lawrence, Kansas, legendary home of the Winchesters. She was fairly certain he life would have been much different, much easier, if those kids had never been born, if they’d never become hunters.

-

“Do you think it’ll be there?” Jo asked as her mother drove down the empty highway.

“What?” Ellen asked absently.

“The ring. Do you think it’s going to be there? Do you think they’ve already got them all?”

“I don’t know kid,” Ellen replied, shaking her head. “We can hope.”

“What happens if they are gone?” Jo asked. “I mean, someone’s obviously going through a lot of trouble to gather them. They’ve got to have some sort of end game, and that likely means they’re gonna bring Lucifer back. What happens then? And who is doing this? Who’s that crazy?”

“Slow down, sweetie,” Ellen shushed. “We don’t know anything for sure. For all we know, no one’s even after the rings. And if they are, which is more likely, we’ll stop them. We always do.”

“But-”

“We’ll be okay,” Ellen assured her. “Maybe we’ll die. Again. But we’ll stop whatever happens.”


	28. Crossroads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Crowley tells the truth by lying through is teeth.

“Damn it!” Dean yelled, slamming his fist into a wall. The ring at Bobby’s had been taken. The ring buried Dean’s his old grave in Pontiac had been taken. The ring in Florida had been taken. And now the ring in Palo Alto was gone too.

“Dean,” Cas said, placing his hand on his lover’s shoulder.

“No Cas! Someone’s going to break him out! After all the shit we went through trying to lock Lucy’s ass up, someone just gonna break him back out?! I’m not gonna let it happen!”

“Dean, there is nothing we can do about it now but wait.”

“No,” Dean said, heading for the impala. He wrenched his door open, climbed in, then slammed it closed with nearly as much force. He barely waited for Cas to enter before driving away.

“Where are we going Dean?”

He never answered, but Cas knew. A crossroads.

The nearest one was about half an hour away. Dean violently dug a hole in the center and thrust a small summoning box into it, then reburied it and waited.

“Winchester,” the demon said with a smile when she arrived. Then her smile fell. “And his angel. What can’t I do for you?” she asked.

“Crowley. I want to talk to him.”

The demon looked somewhat annoyed. “I’m obsolete!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air before disappearing. Several moments later, Crowley appeared.

“Hello boys,” he greeted with a smile.

Dean slammed him into the ground forcefully.

“I like a man who plays rough,” Crowley taunted. “Not sure you’re boyfriend appreciates it though.”

“What do you know?” Dean growled.

Crowley looked at him expectantly. “About what?”

“The rings! What do you know about who took the rings?!”

“You the Horsemen’s rings? You lost them!” Crowley exclaimed.

“Don’t lie to me! You broke into Bobby’s house and killed him for the ring he was guarding!”

Crowley sighed. “I was made aware of Robert’s untimely demise. The demons responsible paid with their lives, I assure you. But I know _nothing_ of the disappearance of the rings.”

Dean seemed to buy his story because he released him, then walked away angrily.

Crowley rose to his feet and brushed off his pants.

“I'll let you know if I hear anything!” he called after Dean and Cas. Then he rolled his eyes and disappeared.


	29. Presence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a woman is revealed.

Sam was curled up in a corner of the cell he shared with Lucifer as they hurled through eternity, falling as always. He knew that the next round of torture was coming soon and part of him desperately clung to the juvenile thought that if he hid well enough, the ones torturing him would not be able to find him, and therefore he would be safe, at least for a little while. He curled into a tighter ball when he felt a presence join he and Lucifer.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Lucifer asked angrily. “How are you alive?”

Sam allowed himself to look up. Clearly Lucifer was shocked by the arrival; it most not have been one of the demons.

The woman was gorgeous: blonde hair, blue eyes, full lips. Sam always did have a thing for blondes. Something about this one seemed so familiar.

“Hey Lucy,” the woman said with a wide grin.

“I killed you,” Lucifer growled back.

She shrugged. “Didn’t stick. Now, do me a favor and be quite while I talk to gigantor over here.”

It was then that Sam realized why she seemed so familiar.

“Gabriel?” he asked, rising to his feet shakily.

“Got it in one,” she said with a smile. “I’ve been doing some stuff upstairs and I didn’t want people knowing it was me. I’ve got a reputation to uphold,” she said, as the camouflage shimmered away, leaving the trickster Sam had come to know as Gabriel.

Right then, Lucifer decided it was a good time to lunge at Gabriel, but somehow Gabriel had known, even with his back turned. He snapped his fingers and the Morning Star was lying facedown on the ceiling.

“How’d you do that?” Sam asked, eyeing the devil.

“Hello, _Archangel_,” Gabriel said.

“But he killed you. From what I understand, he was way more powerful than you. Come to think of it, how the hell _are_ you even alive?”

“Daddy brought me back,” he said. “I guess joining Team Free Will looked good in his eyes. And, generally speaking, being down here weakens people, regardless of species.”

“Then how are you-”

“Jeez Samantha, you’re full of questions today, aren’t ya. Be quiet and listen. I don’t know how much time we have.”

“How long has it been on the outside?” he couldn’t’ help but ask.

Gabriel glared at him, but there was no malice. “Give or take nine months.”

“But… It only feels like a few weeks. When Dean-”

“Time isn’t constant here. Now shush. Here’s what’s gonna happen…”


	30. Recover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean fades and Ellen is hurt.

Dean had hardly spoken in a month, ever since they realized the rings were gone, and Cas can feel him slipping slowly away. Dean was pissed because everything they’d done to stop the apocalypse was for nothing. Someone had found the rings and was probably just biding their time before opening the seal.

But Cas knew that there was more to it than just that. Dean was pissed at whoever had gathered the rings and killed Bobby, but he was even more angry with himself. For not hiding the rings better. For not melting them down into nothing.

But mostly for wishing and hoping that the cage would stay locked, with his brother inside.

Cas tried to talk to him multiple times, but Dean was growing more distant by the day and Cas knew there wasn’t a whole lot he could say or do.

-

“You’re going to have to take it easy, Mrs. Harville,” the doctor said. She was lying in a lumpy hospital bed somewhere in Nowheresville, Oklahoma, her daughter sitting in the chair next to her with an extremely worried expression on her face.

They’d been hunting a vampires and one of them had gotten a hold of one of the girls’ guns. The girls had managed to destroy the whole nest, but not before Ellen had been shot in the hip.

“It could take a long time to heal, I’m afraid,” the doctor said. “You’ll have to go through some rehabilitation. You won’t be running a marathon anytime soon. You may never fully recover.”

-

Dean had become rather dispassionate about hunting. It was killing Cas to see Dean so unhappy. No one should have been happy seeing all the horrible, unthinkable evil that they saw every day, but saving peoples’ lives made the whole thing worthwhile and Dean had always been happy to do it. Now he was just going through the motions, solving cases with no enthusiasm.

And sometimes, he wasn’t even solving cases properly.


	31. Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean and Cas fight.

“Dean!” Cas shouted angrily as Dean rummaged through the weapons cash in the trunk of the Impala.

“What Cas?” Dean replied, nearly as angry.

“You are wrong Dean,” he said.

“What are you talking about?!”

Cas stared at him with wide eyes. “You have not been listening to anything I have said for the last five minutes.”

“Not really, no.”

Cas let out an exasperated sound and glared. “What I had been _trying_ to tell you, is that I don’t think Bradton is our guy! Burning his bones will do us no good!”

“He is our guy Cas. Who else could it be?”

“And what if you _are_ wrong?” Cas asked.

“Then we’ll try again. And I’m not wrong,” he added.

Cas narrowed his eyes at him. “You don’t even care anymore, do you? You don’t care that you aren’t taking the time to research this properly and that you will likely get someone killed!”

“Don’t pretend you’re better at this than I am. I’ve been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you!” Dean shouted.

Cas stared at him for a moment, then quietly said “Maybe you’ve been doing it for too long.” They stared at each other a moment longer. “And maybe I _should have_ chosen Heaven.”

With that he turned and walked away, leaving Dean standing just outside the graveyard.

-

Cas knew exactly where to go, exactly what to do. He’d done the research, far better than Dean had and he was sure of it. Perhaps he wasn’t the best hunter, and he knew that without Dean having to point it out, but he wasn’t clueless. He knew what he was doing.

He arrived at the Flynn residence, the home of the first victim, and ducked under the police tape that still hung across the front door. Inside, the living room was charred and covered in black ash. It was the only room in the house that looked this way, a fire had targeted this specific room, where Mr. Graham Flynn had fallen asleep in a chair.


	32. Fuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean is angry and Cas is gone.

_“Maybe I should have chosen Heaven,”_ Cas’ words echoed through Dean’s head. His words had hurt. They’d hurt like hell.

But he was a Winchester and he did what Winchesters did, what his dad had taught him. He put on a face to cover his emotions, and grabbed salt, gasoline, a lighter and a shovel from the trunk of the impala, then went into the cemetery.

Digging up someone’s gave was never exactly fun. It was boring labor. But having someone next to him, covered in dirt as he was, had always made it slightly more bearable. But Sam was gone and Cas had left, leaving Dean digging a hole in a bone yard, alone. He tried his best not to think about it as he finally reached the coffin and burned the bones that resided within it.

As he drove back to the motel, his mind was racing. He couldn’t stop thinking about the fight he and Cas had. It wasn’t the first fight they’d had. In fact, it seemed like all they’d done lately was fight. That is, when they were even talking to each other. Dean wasn’t stupid, he knew that the fighting was at least partially his fault, but it still really pissed him off.

Part of him hoped Cas would be back at the motel when he returned, hoped that he hadn’t gone off and dome something stupid. Anther part of him was still mad and wanted nothing to do with him. Mostly, he just didn’t want to fight.

Cas wasn’t there waiting for him. By the looks of it, he hadn’t even returned to the room at all.

Dean splashed some water over his face to help him cool off, then fell into the bed with a sigh. After a while, he curled up with a pillow and tried, unsuccessfully, to fall asleep. Sleeping felt wrong without Cas in the bed next to him.

When did this happen? When did he reach this point in his life where he needed Cas just to function? Stupid fucking ex-angel, had to barge into his life and fuck everything up. Fuck.


	33. Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean is worried and Cas was right.

_The vision in Dean's left eye was blurred and he could feel blood running down the side of his face. His arms were tied to a pole behind his back. His knife was lying a few feet away, just out of reach. He had no way of cutting himself free._

_The room was getting hotter, causing sweat to pour down his face. Thick smoke started to fill the room and a fire soon followed. He coughed as his lungs filled with smoke and ash. He could taste iron. He'd really had the shit beat out of him._

_He looked around the room for the umpteenth time, searching for something, anything to aid in his rescue. His eyes fall on a mirror lying across the room. His eyes are not his eyes…_

"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, sitting upright in the bed. He closed his eyes and focused, calling for Cas in his mind, hoping, praying almost, that it had just been a dream.

But there was no response from Cas and Dean knew something was wrong. He could hardly feel him like he normally could, in the back of his mind. Even when they were days apart, they'd been able to feel each other with perfect clarity.

But now it was like a low hum that barely registered. Something was wrong.

He hopped into the car and drove, allowing the small sliver the had could feel of Cas guide him to his partner.

His senses led him to an old abandoned warehouse near the edge of town. The place was on fire, and there were cop cars and ambulances and fire trucks surrounding the place. Dean parked the impala, then headed for the Sheriff, who seemed to have been observing and making sure everything was running as smoothly as possible.

Dean tried to put up a mask to hide the fact that he was a little worried, because he was pretty damn sure Cas was in the burning building, as he walked up to the sheriff.

"Agent Gleason," she greeted when she saw him. "You heard what happened?"

"Just that there was another fire," he said, and he was trying desperately not to let any emotions show. He'd burned the bones of their ghost, the firsts should have stopped.

Unless Cas had been right and Dean had the wrong guy. Damn it, why did Cas always have to be right?

"What happened?" Dean asked.


	34. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ellen is nostalgic and Dean is most certainly not freaking out.

"Don't worry mom," Jo said as she pushed her mother out of the hospital in the wheel chair. "You'll be hunting again in no time." She told herself she was saying it to reassure her mom, but really she was trying to reassure herself.

"I don't know kid," Ellen replied, shaking her head slightly and Jo helped her into the truck. "You heard what the doctors were saying: there's a good chance I'll never recover enough to be able to."

"They don't know you mom," Jo replied. "Everything'll-"

"It's okay Jo," she assured her. "Maybe I'll open up another bar. I kinda miss the old one."

"Really?" Jo asked, surprised that she was so okay with just sitting back.

"Yeah," she replied. "You can still hunt, but I'd better get a call from you every three days. Don't think I won't send the boys after you."

 

"What happened?" Dean asked.

"We're not sure yet," the sheriff said. "The Bradleys saw the smoke and called it in just a few minutes ago. Right now they're just trying to get the fire under control and make sure no one was inside."

If anyone had asked, no, Dean was not freaking out right then. Which would have been a complete and utter lie, because he was panicking like hell inside and it was taking every ounce of self control he had to keep himself from running into the burning building and looking for Cas. While he felt like he should be the one searching, he knew that he was no good to Cas if he passed out from smoke inhalation or got burned to charcoal in the process of rescuing him. He also considered the fact that the sheriff was a rather butch woman who could probably take him down before he made it anywhere near the burning building.

"Sheriff Barnes!" someone called from near the building. "We've found someone!"

Dean stood up a little straighter and his heart started bounding harder than it had been.

A moment later, on of the fire fighters carried a man out of the fire. Dean wasn't sure, but it looked a hell of a lot like Cas. He and the sheriff ran towards him as the paramedics transferred him to a gurney. They met up as it was wheeled to the ambulance.

"Hey, isn't that…" the sheriff started.

"Cas," Dean breathed, eyeing the unconscious figure.


	35. Prayer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which God is a dick and Dean prays anyway.

Cas was lying in a hospital bed, completely unconscious. Dean was sitting next to him, his hands clasped tightly around Cas', begging him to wake up. It had been several hours since he had been admitted, and he hadn't shown any signs of waking any time soon.

"Excuse me sir," a nurse said, somewhat rudely, as she entered the room with two other nurses. "We need you to leave," she said as the other two began to prepare his bed to be moved.

"What?" Dean responded, rising to his feet. "What's going? What are you doing?"

"It's okay," someone said, placing a hand on Dean's arm. He turned. It was the doctor, a young man who was probably only a few years out of school.

"Like hell," Dean said.

"They're just taking him to have a few tests," the doctor said. "You can't follow, and they tend to get cranky when people get underfoot."

"I-" Dean began, but was cut off.

"Take a walk," he suggested. "Wander around a bit, come back in about two hours and you can rejoin him in his room."

Dean took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I understand," the doctor said. "You are worried. But there is nothing you can do for him right now."

Dean nodded as he watched the nurses wheel Cas down the hallway.

He wandered about the hospital, as the doctor had suggested, and eventually found himself in the chapel. Dean probably would have laughed at the irony, had the situation been different.

He wasn't much for praying, in fact, he'd only prayed maybe four times, and each of them only since he'd met Castiel, since he'd learned that there might have actually been a God. He wasn't very good at blind faith, and even when he realized that probably did exist, he kinda thought he was a dick.

So, no, Dean wasn't much for praying, but somehow he found himself kneeling in the chapel, praying.


	36. Please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean talks to God and god talks back.

"Please," Dean whispered. "Please, just bring him back to me."

Dean was aware that one wasn't supposed to expect an answer, not in a literal sense, and he knew that he would probably never quite understand exactly why God did the things he did. He was also fairly certain that God had a pretty sick sense of humor, and for that reason, Dean was pretty sure he never wanted to meet the sadist, because punching God in the face, both literally and metaphorically, probably wasn't the best course of action.

"Please," he said again. "I've lot so much already, isn't it enough? Don't I deserve something? Can't you bring him back?"

"_No,_" a genderless voice echoed around him.

Dean's eyes shot open and darted around the room, looking for the body to whom the voice belonged. It was a few moments before it occurred to him that… well, maybe God was talking to him. Frankly, after everything that he had been through and seen, he shouldn't have been all that shocked.

"Why the hell not?" he shouted at that point. "What did he do to deserve this?"

"_I have no say in what happens on Earth,_" the voice said. "_It was free will alone that led us to this day. The same free will you fought for, that your brother sacrificed his life for. The free will that allowed my son to choose you over his brothers in heaven._"

Dean was furious. "You've brought him back before. What the hell makes this time any different?"

"_It is different,_" the voice assured him.

"Well, thank you, for being so clear and useful!" Dean shouted. "I'm really grateful for your insight."

He got no response.

"Get your ass back down here and give me some straight answers or bring him back!"

Still no response.

"Damn you to hell you son of a bitch!"

"Dean?" a voice asked. Dean spun around.

"Chuck?"

Chuck looked around curiously for a moment. "Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Umm… God," Dean replied.

Chuck raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"What are you doing here?" Dean changed the subject.

"Becky," he said. "She's sick."

Dean wondered briefly when Becky found her way back into the picture, but didn't ask.


	37. Fairytale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean has never ridden a horse.

Dean's hands were wrapped around Cas' and his head was resting against the fist made.

"I'm sorry Cas," he whispered. "I've been an idiot, I've been and ass. I just… I love you Cas," he said. "Please come back."

If this were a movie, if this were a sappy chick flick that Dean watched only when he was sure no one was around to catch him, Cas would have woken up at that moment, like a fairy tale where there was a princess cursed to a deep slumber (because, in this analogy, Dean must retain as much masculinity as he could muster). And in this fairy tale, there was a hansom prince who rides a shiny black horse called Metallicar.

One day, the princess was wandering about her castle, exploring as she so often did. She eventually found an old dungeon that had been locked for a long time, so long that the locks had worn away to nearly nothing and were easily broken. Inside the dungeon were many interesting things and the princess could not help but to explore them further. But one of the things she found was a bottle of poison that she drank, not knowing it was poison.

The poison sent her into a deep slumber (we mentioned this part before). Her family was not deeply saddened by the loss of their sister, and her father (who could have easily cured her) claimed that she got herself into the mess, and therefore he would do nothing to fix is. It seemed that no one cared for the princess.

Until the prince came, riding on Metallicar's back. He rode into the city and stormed the castle and found the princess' resting place.

In the end, it was his absolute and undying love for her that brought her out of her sleep, and the two rode off together into the sunset on Metallicar's back.

But, sadly, this was not a fairy tale. Cas was not a princess. Dean was not a prince. Their was no magical remedy for Cas' condition.

And Dean had never ridden a horse before.


	38. When

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Becky is overly insightful.

Dean hadn’t gotten a full nights sleep in days. He just sat next to Cas, hoping, praying that he would wake up.

The doctor, who Dean thought he probably would have liked if it hadn’t been for the fact that he was the doctor of his nearly dead boyfriend, had tried to get him to sleep on several occasions, and even threatened to find a tranq gun to use on him.

When did it become perfectly normal for Dean to have a boyfriend?

Dean probably would have laughed about the tranq gun thing, except that he couldn’t remember what it was like to laugh, couldn’t remember what it was like to even smile.

When had he become the person who desperately needed someone else so badly that without him, he’d ceased to function on a basic human level?

“Hi Dean,” a voice said, solemnly. Dean turned. Chuck and Becky.

“Hey,” Dean said, turning back to Cas. “You feeling better?” he asked Becky.

“Yep,” she said, and Dean was grateful that she wasn’t nearly as hyper as she normally was. “All better. We were just about to leave, but Chuck told me you guys were here. We just wanted to see how he was.”

“There’s been no change in days,” Dean said. He reached out and ran his fingers along the side of Cas’ face. “He’s just… sleeping. Except that he’s not. And God refuses to help him, even though he’s done it before.”

“Maybe this time is different,” Becky said quietly, placing a hand on his arm. “Maybe he helped before because he was fighting for free will, but now that free will has won, helping would violate it.”

When had Becky become so insightful?

“Come here,” she said, holding out her arms for a hug. Dean reluctantly let go of Cas and rose to his feet, allowing himself to be squished into a hug while Chuck watched from the doorway. “Everything will work itself out,” she whispered in his ear.

“I just wish…” Dean started.

“I know. But maybe God didn’t help, because he knew his help wasn’t needed.”

Dean pulled away from her and gave her a questioning look. She nodded her head toward Cas and Dean turned to see him starting to wake up.

“Cas!” he exclaimed.

Becky smiled and walked to Chuck, linking arms with him as they walked away. “They’ll be okay.”

Chuck smiled and nodded as they disappeared into the wind.


	39. Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the boys say sorry.

"Cas!" Dean exclaimed, rushing to his side instantly, not even noticing when Check and Becky left. "Thank God you're okay," he said, then briefly reconsidered his statement, knowing that God probably had nothing to do with it.

Cas looked at Dean for a moment, then turned away, refusing to look at him.

"Cas," Dean said, reaching for his hand, only to have Cas pull it away. The hurt was written plainly all over Dean's face, but Cas didn't see it.

"I'm sorry Cas," he said. "I've sorry I was such a jerk. I… If I had just listened to you…"

Cas turned at stared at him, an angry look on his face. "It is not just this case Dean," he began.

"I know," Dean said, before he could continue. "I've been a jerk for months. I just… I'm scared Cas."

Cas reached out weakly and took one of Dean's hands. Try as he might, he can't seem to hold a grudge against him.

"I'm fucking terrified," Dean said. "Last time Lucifer broke out, I lost Sammy. What's gonna happen this time? I've already lost Bobby. What if I lose you too?"

Cas brought his hand up to Dean's face and ran his thumb along his jaw. Dean looks up at him, his eyes glassy.

"I love you Cas," he said. "And these past few months I've been so worried about losing you, that I almost did."

"I am not lost yet Dean," Cas assured him.

"I've been such a dick," Dean said.

"Yes, you have."

"I'm sorry."

"I know. I am sorry too."

"For what?" Dean almost laughed. What could he have to be sorry for?

"For not talking to you. For saying what I said… about choosing Heaven. I did not mean it."

"Yeah, well, I think I kinda deserved that one."

"Saying it hurt you, which was why I said it. I should not have."

"You're human, Cas, that's what humans do: say things they know will hurt."

Dean's heart started racing when Cas' eyes fell closed, and Cas could feel the worry Dean was feeling.

"I am not lost, Dean," he said quietly. "Only tired."


	40. Blessing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean and Cas... well, I don't want to spoil it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!! okay, I just wanted to give you all a heads up, this chapter takes a weird turn. We jump ahead a few months and, well, I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil anything. The big WARNING I have you you, is that there is some slight M-Preg at this point. Now, M-preg kinda (a lot) squicks me out, so there is nothing even remotely graphic, it's kind of just mentioned in passing. I just wanted to let you know.

"Does it worry you?" Dean asked as he drove the Impala down a stretch of empty highway.

"What?" Cas questioned.

"That nothing has happened yet. The rings have been missing since December. It's March. Shouldn't there be signs? That, you know, he's back."

Cas shrugged. "Perhaps we should take it as a blessing," he said. "That maybe he is not yet raised."

Dean shook his head. "Our luck is not that good. No, he's out there somewhere, and he's just biding his time. Something's going to happen."

Oddly enough, nothing happened. Dean and Cas spent the next few months, hunting as usual. Ellen opened up a bar in Colorado Springs, and gave it the same name as the one that had burned down. Jo continued hunting, but kept her word to Ellen that should would call regularly. Her mother only had to send Dean and Cas after her once, when she'd been kidnapped by… well, actually, a human. Dean had vowed never to let her live down the fact that a _human_ and gotten the upper hand over her.

The strangest thing that happened, was when Dean and Cas decided to buy a house in Colorado. Cas had briefly wondered how Dean had managed, but decided it best that he live in ignorance. Nearly a month later, the beginning of August, Robert Samuel Winchester was born. He looked just like John.

Chuck and Becky had stopped by, just a few days after he was born to offer their congratulations, then disappeared again.

Jo would stop by too, once in a while. Whenever she did, she'd spend hours playing with little Robbie (a nickname that is completely and utterly Cas' fault, Dean claimed). She just couldn't get enough of the kid.

Dean got a job as a mechanic, but still went out on hunts at least once a month. He couldn't completely turn his back on the lifestyle he'd had since he was four. He was a hell of a lot more careful now though.

There was still no sign of Lucifer on the horizon. There was still random, unpredictable evil, but it was just that, random and unpredictable, not anything leading up to the impending apocalypse.

So, yeah, life had been looking pretty good.

Except that Sam was still in hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God Bless America, and all the lives lost 9 years ago today.


	41. Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel bleeds and Sam worries.

Gabriel had told Sam that he would be dropping some kind of poison into the pit, into the cage he and Lucifer shared. He had told him the poison would paralyze old Lucy just long enough for Sam to be pulled out, without Lucifer being pulled out with him.

What Gabriel hadn't told Sam was that the poison was the blood of a fallen angel, his blood, or that the process would kill him.

Lucky for the both of them, death had a habit of not sticking when it came to Winchesters and their angels.

"Gabriel!" Sam shouted, rushing to the Tricksters side as the gateway closed behind him. Gabriel was lying in the grass, unconscious, with deep gashes in his arms, blood seeping out of them.

"Gabriel!" he exclaimed again. "Gabriel!" He began wrapping his shirt around the open wounds. He needed to get him help. He fumbled around in his pockets as he looked around to see where he was. Stull cemetery. He was grateful, if slightly surprised, that his phone was in his pocket. He quickly dialed the closest person he knew.

"Sam?" the voice on the other end answered, only slightly surprised that he was calling. He didn't ask how she knew it was him.

"Missouri," he rushed. "I need you to-"

"I know Sam," she cut him off. "The paramedics are on their way. Don't you worry."

Despite her assurances, Sam still worried. Gabriel had lost a lot of blood, _a lot _of blood. Even for an archangel, it can't have been good.

The paramedics arrived in almost no time and they bring Sam and Gabriel to the hospital. There was a police officer waiting when they got there and he started asking Sam questions as the doctors wheeled Gabriel down the hallway.

Sam was only vaguely aware of what was happening, only vaguely aware that the police were walking to him.

"Has he had any suicide problems in the past?"

Sam didn't answer. He wasn't even listening. He was fuming, pissed. He was really sick of people sacrificing themselves. Hadn't enough people been hurt because of him?


	42. Cease

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chuck tells Becky about how Angels die.

"When an Angel dies," Chuck muttered to himself as he typed up the latest book on his computer. "They cease to exist."

"Really," Becky asked from the bed, causing Chuck to nearly jump out of his skin; he'd forgotten she was there.

"Yep," he replied when his heart returned to a normal pace.

"Like, just nothing?"

"Nothing," Chuck nodded.

"No Heaven?"

"No Heaven. No Hell either."

"Well, that doesn't seem very fair. I mean, not the Hell part; it's rather nice not being sent to hell… unless they deserve it, which I think a few do, but I guess that's not my place to decide-"

"You're rambling," Chuck interrupted.

"Oh. Right. What was I saying?"

"Nonexistence isn't fair."

"Yeah, it isn't," she said. "These Angels work there whole lives for God, only to be repaid with _poof, you're gone_?"

"Well, it's not like they're aware," he pointed out. "They _cease to exist_."

"Well they should at least be given their own little slice of Heaven," she said. "Or, ooh, they could just be reinstated as Angels."

"That doesn't even make sense," he replied, giving her an odd look.

"Why not?"

"Because, you can't just bring them back from the dead."

"Sure you can."

"Okay fine, maybe. But bringing them back would defeat the purpose. You can't have invincible armies."

"But you'd always win that way."

"Exactly!" he exclaimed. "Which means there's nothing really worth fighting for. Besides, they can only be killed by an Archangels sword."

"Which there seem to be a surprising number of."

"Well, it's not like the only thing they kill is Angels. That was just a side affect. Do you realize how hard it is to create a weapon that will kill all sorts of evil, but won't kill the beings that created it? It's really not worth the effort."

"I bet some of the angels Castiel killed were regretting not trying a little harder," she shrugged.

"Did you miss the part where they cease to exist?"

"Right."

"Besides, I think some of them overstayed their welcome anyway. Though, a few didn't stay nearly long enough," he added with a frown.

"Come back to bed," Becky offered, patting the sheets.

"It's not like I'll be able to work now," he said, shutting the computer down. "You totally wrecked my train of thought. There's a thought train out there somewhere that is completely crashed because of you."

"I have amazing powers," she said as she kissed him.

"Something like that," he mumbled as they lowered themselves to the pillows.

"So they just cease to exist?" she asked a few moments later.

When Gabriel woke up in the ICU, he found himself curiously full of existence.


	43. Imprint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam has no vowels.

Sam walked into the bathrooms to splash a little water on his face, wishing that this was all just a dream, that he would wake up in a crap motel to find that this was all just a dream: Gabriel in the hospital, his stay in Hell, hell, the last year or two.

He felt an odd twinge in his side when he stood up. He lifted up his shirt to find a handprint on his left side, just above his hip. Just like the one on Dean's shoulder.

"What the hell," he murmured.

When he walked out, carefully making sure the imprint was covered, the doctor he'd seen wheeling Gabriel away was walking out of the ER.

"Mr. Lystsky?" he asked.

Sam honestly had no idea what his cover was; he'd handed the police whatever fake ID had been in his pocket when they'd asked his name. Lystsky sounded like something Dean would have made up when he was making the IDs, it was awkward and had no vowels. Yeah, he was probably Lystsky.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked.

"We're moving him into ICU now," the doctor said. "I'm sure you're aware that he lost a lot of blood."

Sam didn't voice the 'Duh' he was thinking.

"We're going to need to keep him here for a couple of weeks while he recovers," the doctor said.

"Can I see him?" Sam asked.

"He's resting now," the doctor said.

"Can I see him?" Sam asked again, more forcefully.

The doctor sighed. "For a few minutes. No more than that. He needs to rest."

Sam nodded and the doctor lead him to Gabriel's room.

"Five minutes," the doctor reminded him.

Sam walked into the room to find Gabriel sleeping in one of the squishy beds. Sam couldn't help but think how peaceful he looked.

Then one of Gabriel's eyes opened slightly as he peaked through. "The doc gone?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Sam began.

"Great," the Archangel grinned, tossing the sheets off of him and sitting up.

"What are you doing?"

"Busting this joint. Duh," he stood up, only to nearly fall; had it not been for Sam standing there to catch him, he would have been lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"How do you plan on getting out?" Sam asked. "No way the doctors are gonna let you."

"Hello, archangel," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing. He snapped his fingers and suddenly they were standing outside a gas station. Well, Sam was standing, Gabriel was being held up by the Winchester.

"Why are we in Cleveland?" Sam asked, catching sight of a newspaper lying on the ground.

"I was aiming for Colorado Springs," Gabriel mumbled weakly.

"Okay, no more Angel mojo for you," Sam said, wrapping an arm more securely around his waist, not complaining that it was rather awkward, given the height difference. "Can you walk?"

"Only kinda."


	44. Lollypop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam has questions and Gabriel has answers.

Gabriel was asleep in one of the maroon beds, while Sam sat it a lumpy armchair, watching, worrying. Gabriel had been out for nearly three days.

"I'm okay sasquatch," Gabriel's voice suddenly entered his thoughts. Sam's eyes focused on the angel, who was staring at him with tired eyes.

"You're been out for three days."

"Sorry 'bout that," he said, starting to shift out of the bed.

"Don't even think about it," Sam said, suddenly standing at his side, pushing him back into the bed.

Gabriel grunted with annoyance. He didn't like being babied.

"You are not leaving this bed," Sam said. "You're lucky I didn't bring you back to the hospital." Though they both knew it had less to do with luck and more to do with the fact that Sam really hated hospitals.

"Can I at least get some cheesecake?" he asked, pouting slightly. Sam glared, but presented him with him with a cherry lollypop; Gabriel grinned.

"What the hell were you thinking anyway?" Sam asked.

"Hmm?"

"Getting me out. What you did was crazy. Stupid."

Gabriel shrugged. "Had to get you out, didn't I?"

"But you nearly killed yourself doing it!"

"Now that you mention it, I should be dead. As in not alive, no longer in existence. The ritual I preformed, it should have killed me. How the hell am I alive?"

"I don't know," Sam said. "I still can't fathom why you did it in the first place."

Gabriel shook his head. "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy. I couldn't very well just let you sit down there and rot, now could I?"

Sam didn't respond for a moment. "What do you get out of it?"

Gabriel just stared at him. "Nothing. Well, not at the moment. I'll ask for my reward sometime. But not right now."

"I knew it."

"Hey, what day is it?"

"Tuesday, October 11th," Sam replied. "2011. I've been gone 17 months. How the hell did that happen? It only felt like a few weeks."

"I told you Sammy, Heaven and Hell? They don't follow standard Earth time. They flow at their own rates. And that rate is never constant. Sometimes a month here equals ten years there, sometimes a year here equals a month there. Life's just fun that way."

"Yeah," Sam replied sarcastically. "Fun."

"You didn't miss a whole hell of a lot, if that makes you feel any better," Gabriel offered, fiddling with the lollypop. "After you jumped in, things pretty much went back to how they were before."

Sam's eyes suddenly widened; something had just occurred to him. "Oh my God, Cas. I killed him. And Bobby."

"Relax kiddo, Daddy brought them back, both of them." He then offered to share his lollypop with Sam. He declined.


	45. Chapter 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a road trip begins.

Sam made Gabriel stay in bed for six more days, only allowing him out to use the bathroom. When he finally was allowed out of the bed, he wanted to teleport them somewhere. Sam wouldn't let it happen.

"Last time you tried, you miss shot and passed out for three days. Wherever it is you need to go, we're driving to."

"Fine. Can I drive?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Sam replied without a second thought.

And that was how Sam Winchester, demon hunter, ex-demon blood junkie, former vessel to Lucifer, brief inhabitant of hell, found himself on a road trip with Gabriel, Archangel turned Trickster turned Archangel.

"Where the hell are we going anyway?" Sam asked as he drove them down the highway in a car he'd 'borrowed' from an impound lot.

"Colorado Springs," Gabriel replied, munching on a bowl of popcorn. Sam had no idea where it had come from, but he didn't ask.

"Why?" Sam asked. What the hell was in Colorado?

"You'll see," the angel replied, perhaps a little too cheerfully. Sam knew he should have been worried. "Popcorn?" he offered, holding the bowl toward Sam, who took a few pieces, but only because he figured it was better than the alternative.

They were quiet for a while, just listening to the radio, and eating their popcorn.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked out of the blue. "You're powers I mean."

"I'm fine," he assured him. Sam glanced at him skeptically. "I am less powerful than I once was," he gave it. "I can still make things appear at will," he held up the popcorn. "And I can change my appearance." He snapped to the female figure he'd been wearing when he'd first told Sam of his rescue plan, then back again. "And I believe I can change yours…" he snapped his fingers and Sam felt an odd sensation, like someone cracking an egg on his skull. He glanced into the rearview mirror.

"Change me back damn it," he said.

Gabriel snapped his fingers. "You make an odd looking woman anyway," he shrugged. "For the most part, I'm fine. But I tried teleporting while you were in the rest stop a few hours back. I landed in the woman's restroom."

"Where were you aiming?"

"New Hampshire. I transported myself back just fine though."

"So," Sam deducted. "Short distance, you're okay, long distance, not so much?"

"Seems that way."

"Hey," Sam said as they passed a sign indicating Cicero, Indiana. "We should stop in Cicero." He smiled and looked at his passenger.

"Dean's isn't there," Gabriel said.

"What?" Sam asked, his face falling.

"Dean isn't in Cicero. He never went."

"You've got to be kidding me, he promised."

"Oh calm down Gigantor. Yell at him when we find him."


	46. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam is reminded of Dean.

"This is strange," Sam said as he flipped through a newspaper.

"What?" Gabriel asked though a mouthful of pancakes covered in strawberry syrup.

"Dude, it's ten thirty at night," Sam pointed out. "You're eating pancakes."

"Yeah, but that's not strange."

Sam couldn't deny that. "I was talking about this," he said, showing him one of the articles.

"Oh no no no," Gabriel shook his head and waved his fork at Sam, splattering syrup everywhere. "You are not dragging me into one of your hunts."

"Fine," Sam shrugged, taking the paper back. "You don't have to help. But we're staying here tonight and I'm checking it out in the morning."

Gabriel sighed and rolled his eyes.

They checked into a motel that night. There was only one room available, a single king size bed. Sam had told Gabriel to take the bed, while he slept in the chair.

The motel was a dump and it smelled like sex and mold, but it was familiar and reminded Sam of home, of Dean.

Dean. He missed his brother. It had only been a few weeks in Sam's mind, but he knew that it had been considerably longer for Dean. He really hoped he was holding up okay.

Sam shifted uncomfortably in the chair, trying to find a position that wasn't painful in several places.

"You could join me," he heard Gabriel say from the bed. "There's plenty of room and I don't bite. Usually."

"I'm fine," Sam assured him. "Go back to sleep."

"Okay. I'm just saying, I don't mind if you do join me. The bed is surprisingly comfy. Well, after and worked my _mojo_ on it. I promise no funny business, just a nice place to sleep."

"I'm fine," Sam repeated, shifting in the chair again.

"If you say so," Gabriel shrugged, curling up with his pillow.

Not ten minutes later, he could feel Sam crawl into the bed opposite him. He couldn't help but smile a little.


	47. Needless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam learns about Bobby.

"You didn't have to come," Sam said, growing somewhat annoyed when Gabriel started to complain for the sixth time.

"But I want to see where you work honey," Gabriel replied in a housewife-like manner, snaking an arm around his.

Sam rolled his eyes. "If you're going to do that, you could at least put the pretty suit back on."

Gabriel's image changed into that of a woman. "You mean like this?" she asked, linking arms with him as they walked down the street. "I call her Gabrielle. You like her?"

Sam's eyes widened. "Don't do that in public. Change back before someone notices."

"Oh please Sammy," he said, changing back. "They won't notice a thing unless I want them too. Now, tell me about this case you've got."

Sam rolled his eyes again. "Looks like we've got a ghost," he said. "We're going to ask around a bit, see if anyone knows anything about the recent deaths. And by we, I mean I'll be doing all the talking."

"I'm hurt," Gabriel pouted.

"You kill people for a living," Sam said. "And you aren't exactly discreet about it, which leads me to believe you won't be discreet about anything. You're not talking."

"Hey, I only ever killed dicks. Everyone I killed deserved what they had coming. And it's been almost two years since I killed someone," he shot back, somewhat defensively. And then, more quietly, he added "Although, I may be somewhat responsible for Singer's death."

Sam stopped walking and reached out to stop Gabriel. When Gabriel turned, Sam's face was completely serious.

"Bobby?" he said. "Bobby's dead?"

Gabriel sighed. "Yeah. Look, it was an accident. Working with demons has it's downsides and I should have been there to supervise, I know…"

"What happened?" Sam asked, trying to control his temper.

"After you jumped into hell, your brother had a rather ingenious plan. Don't tell him I said that. They separated the rings and guarded some with anti-angel magic, some with anti-demon magic. I needed help from a demon in order to get two of them. So I went to the only Demon I trust. Crowley-"

"You trust Crowley?" Sam asked, disbelievingly.

"He's a pain in the ass, I'll give you that, but he's not completely evil and he's helped us before. And it wasn't his fault either. It was the demons he brought with him to retrieve the ring. They got a little carried away. Crowley had them punished severely."

Sam raised an eyebrow, hardly believing that Crowley would punish fellow demons for the death of a human.

"He doesn't appreciate needless death," Gabriel said as though he'd read Sam's mind (come to thing of it, he probably had). "And he's come to rather like a select few humans. Bobby was one of them."


	48. Chapter 48

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Becky and Chuck hijack the story.

Chuck turned over in the bed and threw his arm around Becky. Well, his aim had been for Becky, but what his arm found was empty bed. He grunted slightly in disapproval, then opened his eyes to search for her. He jammed his eyes back closed and grunted again when the light of the computer met his light sensitive eyes.

"I swear," he mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear. "If you're reading fanfiction again, I'll throw this pillow at you."

"I'm not _reading_ fanfiction," she replied, typing quickly away at the computer.

A moment later, a pillow hit her square in the face.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "You said if I was reading it. I'm not. I'm writing it," she added.

"Close enough," he grumbled. "Come back to bed."

"How come you can stay up 'til all hours writing, but I can't?" she pouted.

"What you're writing isn't even real," he pointed out.

"That's what you said when I wrote that one scene between Dean and Castiel," she said. "And you remember how-"

"Don't remind me," Chuck interrupted. "I don't need those visuals again."

Becky let out a sigh and seemed to disappear into a trance, as though seeing the things he saw was a blessing she wished she possessed. She snapped herself out of it a moment later.

"What are you writing about?" he asked, trying to be nice. "If it's porn, I don't need to know," he added hastily.

She smiled at him mischievously.

"Eww," Chuck groaned, throwing his head into the pillow.

"Aww, don't be like that," she said, crawling back into the bed. "It wasn't porn, just harmless Sam/Gabriel cuddling."

Chuck tore his head out of the pillow and gave her a questioning look.

"Oh come on, they're adorable and you know it."

"You have a strange definition of adorable. Puppies are adorable. Kittens are adorable."

"Yes," she agreed. "Those things are adorable. But happy Winchesters is adorable too. After everything they've been through, they deserve some harmless cuddling. And sex."

"Gaaah!" Chuck groaned, having mental images find their way back into his head.

Becky kissed his cheek as she cuddled closer.

"What are the Trickster and the Sasquatch up to, anyway?" she asked.

Chuck closed his eyes and allowed their images to flood his mind.


	49. Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel lands in an icebox.

"What do you mean waning?" Sam asked through the bathroom door as he finished cleaning himself in the shower.

"I don't know why it's happening now. I mean, I've been on earth for centuries. Maybe it had something to do with how I pulled you from Hell. I don't know, but my powers are not what they once were."

"You're becoming more human," Sam said.

"Well, I don't know about that," he replied, hanging his head off the edge of the bed as he kicked his feet aimlessly round in the air. "But my powers should have returned by now. I should be able to transport us anywhere in the blink of an eye."

"And you can't?"

"Nope. I landed in the ice machine."

"In?"

"In," he nodded. "It was kinda chilly."

"You were in an ice machine," Sam pointed out as he opened the door, drying his hair with a towel. He was wearing jeans but no shirt and no shoes.

Gabriel's face fell slightly as he noticed something. He flipped around in the bed and climbed out, awkwardly, yet somehow gracefully.

"What?" Sam asked suspiciously as Gabriel walked closer to him.

"I…" he began, standing much closer to Sam than was comfortable. What the hell was it with angels and personal space?

"What?" Sam asked again.

Gabriel's hand reached out towards him slightly, then he pulled it back.

"I did this," he said, brushing his fingers lightly along the handprint burned into Sam's side. Both gasped as electricity seemed to flow between them. Gabriel looked up at the Winchester towering over him and-

There was a knock at the door.

Sam and Gabriel jumped away from each other. They stared at one another for a moment before Sam went to answer the door.

"Dr. Tanner," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"You said you wanted to know immediately if I found something. Well, I found something. Her name was Jenna Coolidge. She died ten years ago in the house. Drowned in her bath tub."


	50. Push

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam's inner voice sounds like Dean.

Sam and Gabriel were on the road again. They'd solved the case (though, it was mostly Sam that did the solving), then got the hell out of town before the sheriff could catch up and arrest them. They were once again on the trip that Gabriel told Sam almost nothing about.

"So are you going to tell me where we're going?" Sam asked for the umpteenth time.

"Eventually," Gabriel replied, twirling a lollypop in his mouth.

"Before or after we get there?"

Gabriel was thoughtful for a moment. "After," he finally said confidently.

Sam rolled his eyes, wondering why the hell he was even going along with this.

_Because you like him_, a voice in his head said.

_No,_ he told the voice. _Because he saved my life. I should at least give him something for that, shouldn't I?_

_And you like him,_ the voice said. The voice sounded oddly like Dean and Sam couldn't help but think that having the voice in his head sound like his brother was kinda masochistic.

"Hey, just trust me Gigantor," Gabriel said, offering him a lollypop.

Sam shook his head at the candy. "Yeah, trust the guy who killed my brother over and over."

Gabriel seemed a bit taken aback by the statement. "I was trying to teach you a lesson," he said as he unwrapped the lollypop.

"And locked us in TV land just for kicks."

"Again, lesson. I wanted you to say yes. If only you hadn't figured me out. I think my life would have been considerably easier." He stuck the lollypop in Sam's mouth, not caring that the young Winchester didn't want it.

Sam gave him an odd look as he pulled it out of his mouth.

"You know what just occurred to me," Sam said thoughtfully. "Maybe what you really wanted, was for us to figure you out."

"You're crazy."

"Probably," Sam agreed. "But I think you wanted to be caught. You wanted us to give you a reason to stop riding the fence and start fighting for something."

"I never wanted to fight them," Gabriel said.

"No, and I understand that. But you wanted them to stop fighting. And you just needed a little push from us."

Gabriel stared at him silently for a long while as both twirled lollypops around in their mouths.

"You and your brother think very highly of yourselves, you know that?"


	51. Domestic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cas can't cook.

Dean and Cas were walking through town, baby Rob fast asleep on Dean's shoulder.

"I was thinking of making a cake," Castiel said out of nowhere.

"Cause that went so well last time. And the time before that," Dean said sarcastically.

"That's why I want to try again," he said. "I will never get good if I stop because of a few mishaps."

"A few mishaps?" Dean replied, raising his eyebrows. "My clothes smelled like smoke for a week. I had three chicks as if they could bum a cigarette. And a man!"

Cas pouted.

"It was not that bad."

Dean grinned. He loved Cas' pouty face. "It was that bad. But you'll try again, and this time you won't burn the house down. Just don't let me forget to buy a fire extinguisher."

Sam watched from a distance as Dean and Cas and the small baby made their way around town, taking care of run of the mill errands.

Gabriel was standing next to him, though he was there as 'Gabrielle'. Sam had no idea why he was a woman at that moment, but he'd grown somewhat accustomed to his constant changing.

"You knew all along he was here," Sam said. He wore a small smile. It was good to see Dean happy.

"Of course I did."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Surprising you is more fun," Gabriel replied with a grin.

Sam watched them a moment longer, then turned to walk away.

"Woah, woah, woah, where are you going?"

"I saw something in the paper that looked like a ghost the next town over. I thought I'd check it out."

"You're not even gonna say hi?"

Sam sighed. "He's happy here. I'm not gonna just burst in and bring back everything that's happened."

Gabriel stared at him for a moment, utterly perplexed.

"Damn it's a good thing you're good looking, 'cause you're an _idiot._"

Sam was slightly taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"You. Are. Incredibly. Dense. He's your brother. He loves you. He's never gonna forget what happened, no matter how much either of you want him too. And how would you have felt if he came back from Hell and just went off and didn't even have the decency to say 'Hey, I'm not dead anymore'. You would've been pissed!"

Sam took a deep breath. He knew Gabriel was right. But Dean had made a life without him, and he was happy. How could he interrupt that?

"You're going over there, and you're talking to him." Gabriel walked around behind him and started to push him down the street. It made both of them feel rather like cartoon characters, a small man pushing a much taller one.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Sam said, throwing up his arms, then started walking on his own.


	52. Abomination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel makes impossible faces.

Dean took Cas' hand in his as he placed a light kiss on his lips, a smile dancing across his face.

"You know," a woman's voice said from behind them. "For someone who hates chick flick moments, you sure have a lot of them."

Dean and Castiel turn to see the woman that had been following them a while back, the one who had stopped Dean from sacrificing Cas for a plan that might not have even worked. They hadn't seen her in almost a year. And standing next to her was…

"Sammy," Dean breathed. Then a thought occurred to him: this was a trick.

"I assure you, he is one hundred percent Sam Winchester," the woman said, dropping the disguise and returning to the form of Gabriel. "No Lucifer, no funny demon trickery, just Sam."

Sam and Dean stared at each other for a while, neither speaking, blinking, breathing.

"Come on bro," Gabriel said, nodding for Cas to follow him. Cas turned as took the baby from Dean's arms and followed the Archangel.

"We thought you were dead," Cas said.

Gabriel shrugged. "Since when has that stopped me? What about you? How've you been? Heard you fell."

Cas nodded as Robbie began to stir. He opened his eyes and looked at Gabriel strangely.

"Urgnapfur," the baby bubbled.

Gabriel grinned at him. "And Urgnapfur to you, good sir," he replied. Her ruffled his hair then said "Who's a cute little abomination?"

"Don't call him that."

"It's true," Gabriel said, but he was stilling grinning at the baby. "Half angel, half human. If the guys upstairs knew, they'd kill all three of you. I'm a little surprised they haven't already."

"Stop," Castiel said.

"I'm not saying I agree with them. This kid's adorable," he made faces that caused Robbie to giggle uncontrollably. "Just surprised they haven't come down yet."

Both are quiet at Gabriel continued to make faces, several of them impossible had he not been an Archangel.


	53. Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Chuck and Becky interrupt again.

"Why would they kill them?" Becky asked, her head resting on Chuck's bare chest.

"Angels and Humans aren't supposed to mate," Chuck shrugged. "The Angels call their children Nephilim, abominations. They kill them."

"But Castiel isn't even an Angel anymore," she said. "That shouldn't count."

"He's not fully an Angel, but there is some Angel left in him. Enough."

"So then… shouldn't they be after him?"

Chuck shook his head. "No more killing Nephilim. Joshua put an end to it."

"So he's in charge up there now?"

"Seems that way," Chuck replied, running his hand through her hair. "Some of the other Angels started to question Michael. They began to see what Castiel and Gabriel fell for."

"That's good," Becky smiled. "That they've learned to change, evolve, adapt."

"Yeah, it is. Maybe they coulda done it a few thousand years sooner, but at least they found themselves."

"Maybe now they can help stop the next apocalypse," she mumbled into his chest. "The real one."

"I suppose the Winchesters won't be around forever to stop the end of the world. Unless they have more adorable kids, and their kids have kids, and their kids have kids, and-"

"Woah Becks," he stopped her. "Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren't we?"

"I just like the idea of them having a big happy family. They deserve it, you know?"

"Yeah," he nodded. ""Yeah, they do."

Becky pulled herself closer to him, then pulled the covers over them and closed her eyes as she cuddled warmly against him. He continued running his fingers though her hair as his own eyes drooped closed.

"So what happened next? With Dean and Sam. What happened?" Becky asked sleepily.

Chuck half smiled. She never ceased to amaze him with her curiosity. "Well," he began.


	54. Dancing

Sam and Dean stared intently at one another for while.

"Sam."

"Dean," Sam replied.

"Really you?" he asked.

Sam shrugged. "So far as I can tell."

Dean pulled him into a bone crushing hug, which Sam returned.

"Missed you kid," Dean said, pulling back. "How'd you get out?"

"Gabriel," he replied, but didn't elaborate. There would be time for that later. He really wanted to hear about Dean at that moment. "So, you and Cas?"

"Yeah," Dean said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Gotta say Dean, it's about damn time."

Dean looked at him, surprised by his words. "What?"

"This thing between you guys? You've been dancing around it since you met."

Dean let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess we have."

"Who's the kid?" Sam asked, curiosity finally getting to him.

Dean grinned at that. "Come on," he said, leading him in the direction Cas and Gabriel had wandered in. They found them sitting on a bench overlooking a park. Gabriel had turned his nose into that of a pig and the kid was squealing with delight. Cas was smiling softly.

"Hey kids," Dean greeted from behind.

"Da!" the kid exclaimed, reaching for him, nearly jumping from Cas' arms. Cas handed him over with a laugh.

"Hey Robbie," Dean said with a grin. "Meet your uncle Sammy. I know, he's really tall and kinda scary, and he has really bad taste in music, but he's family, so we have to pretend to love him, right?"

Sam just stared at them, grinning madly. This was fucking crazy. Dean was so… domesticated. And it wasn't like he'd been forced into it and he was struggling to keep sane, he was loving it. He was loving having a home and watching Cas screw up pies and talking baby talk.

"Hi there," Sam greeted as the kid stared at him, wide eyed. He took him from Dean and held him in his arms. "He looks like Dad."

Dean smiled. "That's what I said."


	55. Bunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of this chapter came from a friend of mine. I couldn't think of a title, she suggested the Brady Bunch, then the Winchester Bunch. I would have gone with it, except that, up until this point, each chapter title has been one word, and I don't like to break with tradition.

Dean's house was unnecessarily big (ha, Dean had a house, that one was still hilarious to Sam). Dean and Cas shared a room, Robbie had a room, Gabriel and Sam had each gotten their own room (Dean only asked six times why Gabriel was even there still), and there were at least three rooms whose purpose had yet to be defined.

They sat around a table for dinner that night (dinner, a real dinner, at a real table, in a real house, that they were not living in illegally, Sam just couldn't get past that one), Dean, Sam, Cas, Gabriel, Robbie, Jo and Ellen.

Sam was more than a little shocked to find Jo and Ellen alive. Apparently, they had been brought back to life a few days after they'd died. Ellen had opened a bar after injuring herself to the point she probably couldn't hunt, while Jo went off hunting by herself, stopping in now and then to visit.

Sam couldn't help but smile as he looked around the table. They were almost like a real family. Like The Brady Bunch. They were The Winchester Bunch. He laughed to himself at that one, but vowed to never let Dean hear him say it.

"Wait a minute," Dean said, dropping his fork to his plate. Something had just occurred to him. He turned to Gabriel. "You were the one who took the rings."

Gabriel nodded through ha mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Gotta say, that's a relief. Been worried about that one biting us in the ass for months now. But… How? Two of those boxes had Angel proofing."

Gabriel swallowed. "Crowley," he said. "He owed me a few favors."

"That lying rat bastard!" Dean shouted. "He swore he wasn't involved."

"Technically, it was some of his minions who… killed Bobby."

The table grew silent and solemn and Robbie cooed loudly and started bouncing in his seat.

"So, ultimately, it's my fault Bobby's dead," Sam said.

Gabriel threw an unwanted green bean at him, hitting him squarely in the nose.

"I'm serious," he exclaimed, brushing his nose. "You hired Crowley to steal the rings so you could pull me out of Hell. My fault."

This time Gabriel threw a handful of green beans. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Blame the trickster."

Sam glared at him slightly, but dropped the thought.

"Why didn't you just tell someone?" Jo asked. "What you were planning."

"It's like I told Dean when Michael gave him the option of draining the blood of a fallen angel to bring Sam back. There was a chance it wouldn't work and I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up."

XXX

"Don't forget the part where Sam and Gabriel are playing footsie under the table," Becky said excitedly as Chuck typed up the latest of Supernatural.


	56. Insert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, the title wasn't meant to sound as dirty as it does. I didn't really think about the connotations of this chapter title until about 30 seconds after I typed it, at which point I laughed and didn't change it (cause, honestly, it kinda fits).

The fourth night at Dean's place (Dean had a place, crazy), Sam was wandering around his room after a shower, thinking about just how crazy the whole situation was. He had known for a long time that Dean and Castiel loved each other, but he'd always figured they'd dance around it the rest of their lives. He never thought they'd admit their feelings (because Sam and Dean had been raised by the same emotion-repressing father) and settle down and have a kid. It wasn't what Sam had been expecting when he told Dean to go live the apple pie life. He's expected him to chicken out, which he technically had with Lisa. He wasn't really sure Dean would handle this life. But he was, and he was happy and Sam couldn't ask for any more than that.

He pulled on a pair of boxers and ran a towel through his wet hair. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called thorough the door, sitting down on the bed (it was a rather comfy bed, king size, and was nothing like the beds he was used to, except maybe the maroon bedspread).

A moment later, Gabriel appeared just inside the door (because, naturally, he couldn't just open the door, he had to materialize thorough it. Showoff).

"What's up?" Sam asked. "Why are you wearing Gabrielle?" It would have, perhaps, occurred to him that this was an odd way of phrasing the question, seeing that he wasn't technically wearing a different meat suit, but had just alter the state of reality.

She shrugged. "I like this one. She has very perky breasts," she grinned, looking down at her boobs.

Sam rolled his eyes and smiled slightly. "What did you want _Gabrielle_?"

"I've come to collect my reward," she said with a sly smile.

"What?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow, somewhat awkwardly.

She took several steps toward him and climbed onto the bed with him, her legs straddling him from either side. Before he had the chance to protest, Gabrielle had brought her lips harshly against Sam's.

"My reward," she whispered, pulling back. "I want you." She kissed him again. "I figured you like it better this way." Another kiss. Long and hard. Sam kissed her back, pulling her down so she was lying on top of him.

"Change back," Sam muttered, pulling back momentarily, then bring their lips back together. She pulled away.

"Really Sammy?" she asked, changing before his eyes. "You want me like this?" he asked.

Sam dragged him into another kiss.


	57. Calling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo cheesy. I can't believe I wrote this.

Gabriel was already awake and standing by the window, staring out, when Sam woke up.

"Morning," Sam said groggily.

Gabriel turned to him and sent him a half smile. "Morning kid."

"What's the matter?" Sam asked, stretching as he climbed out of the bed. Both were completely naked, but Sam couldn't find it in himself to are.

"Nothing," Gabriel said, shaking his head.

Sam knew better. Something was making Gabriel tense.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked again, more forcefully.

Gabriel sighed, but didn't look away from the window. "They're calling. They want me back."

"What? Who?"

Gabriel glanced upward. "Michael, Raguel, Raphael. The Angels want me back."

"And you're going to go?" Sam asked, trying not to let it show that it kinda hurt. A lot.

Gabriel didn't answer for a long time. He just stared out the window, solemnly, watching as people began to wander the streets.

"What choice do I have?" he asked. "They know where I am now. The only reason I've been able to avoid them this long was because they couldn't find me. Now they know. I can't just keep pretending I'm not one of them."

"So you're going?" Sam asked, turning away and jamming his eyes closed. Damn it, why did he always have to get so fucking attached?

Gabriel turned to face him, but found himself staring at his back. "What do you want from me Sam?" he asked.

Sam shook his head. "Whatever," he muttered, searching for his pants, suddenly feeling very exposed.

"Sam," Gabriel began. "Sam!" he grabbed one of his arms to stop him. "Just stop for a second, okay."

"What?" Sam asked, turning and staring him straight in the eyes.

"What is it you want Sam?" he asked again. "You want me? Is that what you want? Then say it!"

Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I want you," he barely whispered.

Gabriel kissed him. "Then I'm yours," he said.

Sam opened his eyes. "What?" he asked. "What about the -"

"Screw the Angels," he said. "They're dicks anyway," he added with a shrug. He kissed Sam again.


	58. Marathon

They laid in the bed, limbs intertwined, Gabriel's head resting against Sam's chest. Both men had their eyes closed, but both were awake. Gabriel was tracing random designs in Sam's chest while Sam ran his finger through Gabriel's hair.

"Would you look at that," Gabriel said sleepily, a slight smile audible in his voice.

"What?" Sam asked, prying his eyes open.

Gabriel turned over and propped himself up to he could see Sam clearly. He held up his left arm, then grabbed Sam's. Both wore similar patterns.

"What is that?" Sam asked. "It looks like the tattoos Dean and Cas have."

"You could say that," Gabriel grinned and laid his head back on Sam's chest. "See, a long time ago, like, a _really_ long time ago, before Michael outlawed it, Angels could be bonded to one other. Permanently. It wasn't all that common, but there were a few."

"Why did Michael outlaw it?" Sam asked.

"Well, there were these two Angels who were _madly_ in love with one another. But when Lucifer fell, one of these Angels decided to fall as well. Well, maybe _fall _isn't the most appropriate term. More like sauntered vaguely downward. But it was enough for him to become a demon. And that was the problem: we had an Angel bonded to a Demon. And Michael wouldn't have it. It interfered with the Angel's loyalties. So he made it punishable for Angels to be bonded. A few fell to Earth after that, but most remained.

"So anyway, this bonding, when it was allowed, was only between two Angels who loved each other, unconditionally, and it left a mark on the bonded," he held out his arm again. "Their names on each other wrist."

"So we've got some crazy Angel bond," Sam said.

"Yep."

They laid there in silence a while longer. "Can the bond ever be broken?" Sam asked eventually.

"Sick of me already Sammy?" Gabriel asked, but it was completely facetious, because he could feel Sam's thoughts, his feelings. "I suppose it can, after a while. I've never heard of anyone who did it though."

"Hey Sammy," Dean's deep voice called as he knocked on the door. "You descent?" He didn't wait for an answer, he threw the door open. He stood there a moment, in complete shock at the scene before him, before making a horrified face and running from the room gagging.

Sam threw his head back and laughed a long, full laugh. Gabriel smiled at him. He loved that laugh.

/

"Aww, finally," Becky grinned. "They're so cute."

"You didn't have to watch them have marathon sex," Chuck replied, somewhat disgusted.


	59. Hunt

Dean couldn't look Sam or Gabriel in the eyes that day, though Cas found the whole situation rather hilarious.

"It's not funny Cas," Dean grumbled at him as they ate lunch that afternoon. Sam and Gabriel had been all over each other in that new couple way that kinda made Dean gag, and it was even worse because every time Dean caught a glimpse of them, he flashed back to the scene he'd found them in that morning. And every time Cas would laugh, just a little.

Sam had a sneaking suspicion that Gabriel was doing it intentionally to mess with Dean, but he had no objections; he'd had the misfortune of walking in on Dean far too many times, and Dean had never shown any remorse.

"Do you ever miss it?" Sam asked one day when he and Dean were alone in the family room (well, Robbie was there too). Gabriel and Cas were in the kitchen trying to make a cake.

"What?" Dean asked as he played tug of war with one of Robbie's toys.

"Hunting."

Dean was thoughtful for a moment. "No," he finally said, shaking his head. "I mean, I've got Bobby's board in the back, you know, just to keep track of things: hunters, evil, random crazy shit. If there's a case in the area, I'll take care of it. But, honestly, I don't really miss it."

Sam looked at him with a smiled. "You're really happy here, aren't you?"

Dean laughed. "Yeah, I am."

"Well, who would have thought you'd be the one to settle down while I go off and start hunting again?" Sam said.

"You're going to pick up hunting again?"

Sam nodded. "I think so."

"And Gabriel?"

"He'll be coming to." At that, Dean made a face Sam didn't quite recognize. "What?"

"I just… Don't get mad at me, okay, but I worry that he's just pulling one over on you."

Sam knew Dean was probably thinking about how bad Sam's track record was, but he was grateful he didn't mention it.

"I'll be okay Dean. I'll be careful."

"When are you leaving?" Dean asked.

"Tomorrow morning."

"_Tomorrow morning_? You've only been back a week!"

"I know Dean, but this is your life now. I'll come back, visit-"

A loud crash came from the kitchen, followed by a scream, breaking Sam and Dean's attention away from each other.

When a period of silence followed, the brothers looked at one another.

"Maybe we should check on the angels," Dean suggested.


	60. Ass

"Does this suit make me look short?" Gabriel asked, pulling at the sleeves as he and Sam walked toward the police station.

"You _are _short," Sam said.

"Well excuse me for not being a _sasquatch_!" Gabriel shot back without malice.

"Shut up and pretend to be a Fed," Sam rolled his eyes. A moment later, he gave Gabriel an odd look as he started walking funny. "What are you doing?"

"Acting like a Fed," Gabriel replied as if it was obvious. "They've always got a bundle of sticks up their-"

"I get it, thank you. Stop please, be serious or they'll never buy us as Feds."

Gabriel grinned but resumed walking like a normal human being, which, granted, he wasn't.

//

"I can't believe they left Dean and Castiel so soon. They just got there," Becky said with a pout.

"Must you always interrupt?" Chuck asked, drawing his hands away from the keyboard.

"Hey, I provide much needed advice to the author and readers," Becky defended.

"No, you screw with my flow and the readers aren't hearing a word of what you say."

"Maybe not, but I tell you what you should write and what you shouldn't."

"But I ignore you," Chuck pointed out.

"So you aren't gonna write about the fantastic sex they have when they go back to the motel? Or the Shapeshifter in Boston? What if that was important?"

"Boston is a couple thousand miles from where the Winchesters are. If it is important, which I don't think it is, it'll be a while before he makes an appearance."

"Fine. But when I'm right-"

"I'll go into full detail for a chapter."

Becky grinned. "_Full_ detail?"

Chuck sighed and nodded, knowing this deal would probably come back and bite him in the ass.

Chuck flinched, because somewhere in Midwestern America, Sam Winchester was biting Gabriel's ass.


	61. Gash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the whole gash thing? Yeah, not mine. That was all Misha my dears. I think he said it on twitter.

"How is this?" Castiel asked, handing Dean a slice of cake.

Dean looked at it cautiously, unsure of what to think of it. "Well, the fire department didn't show up this time," he said. "And it doesn't _look_ burnt." He picked up the fork and began poking and prodding at it. "And it seems to have a normal consistency for cake, nothing like jello." He used the side of the fork to cut a piece away. "And it didn't crumble to a pile of ash-"

Cas picked up the fork and shoved the cake into Dean's mouth, growing tired of the banter. Dean made several odd faces as he ate the chocolate cake.

"Hmm," he said, swallowing. "You know… that was actually really good." He reached for the fork and took a second bite as Cas beamed. Dean reached out for Cas and pulled him into his lap and kissed him.

"I think I'll try making pie next," Cas said when they pulled away.

"You are going to ruin pie for me, you know that right?" Dean replied, then kissed him again.

Sam and Gabriel were gone for just over two weeks before they returned to Dean and Cas for a visit. When they arrived, Jo was there, having just arrived the night before.

"Hey guys," Dean greeted when they walked through the door. "You got here just in time. Cas finally mastered the art of cake making yesterday."

"Really?" Gabriel asked, shocked.

"It's fantastic," Jo said from where she was lying on the floor, playing with Robbie. She had a plate sitting next to her with nothing but a few crumbs of cake on it.

"Deeeeaan," Cas called from somewhere in the house. "The internet is broken!"

Dean sighed.

"I'll fix it," Sam said, walking toward the computer room.

Dean turned to Gabriel. "See, he's under the impression that I invented the internet. I did not invent the internet. What I did invent was a game called Gash where you bounce large glass marbles off your brother's skull."

Gabriel made a thoughtful face, then grinned manically. It made Dean consider that maybe he shouldn't have told him that, because now he was going to spend three days throwing things at Cas. Dean shook the thought away; Cas would get over it.


	62. Rock

They had planned to only stay in town for a few days, just pay a quick visit, then hit the road again. Only, Gabriel immune system had different plans because suddenly he was bedridden and it was kinda freaking Sam out because every day, Gabriel was becoming more human and this was just more proof of that.

And then there was a haunting a few towns over and Sam couldn't just let it go 'cause people were dying and someone had to do something about it.

"Feel better soon," Sam said, kissing Gabriel lightly and handing him a lollypop. "We'll be back in a week."

Dean was going with him, because he hated for anyone to go hunting alone, especially his little brother.

"You still have the weapons in the trunk?" Sam asked as they walked out the front door and toward the Impala. Dean just stared at him.

"What kind of stupid do you think I am? Of course I have the weapons!"

"Sorry, just checking," Sam shrugged sheepishly.

"You said you'll be back by Tuesday?" Cas asked, walking out with them.

"We'll call if we get delayed," Dean nodded.

"Take care of him, will you," Sam said.

Cas nodded. "Of course."

They were in the car about an hour, listening to what Sam had long ago dubbed 'mullet rock' and Dean was banging his head to the music, while Sam tried to ignore the fact that his ears felt like they were bleeding. When he requested they turn the music down, Dean spun the dial up louder, causing Sam to groan loudly. It was just like old times.

"What's the matter sweet cheeks?" a voice asked. Sam spun around, looking for the source. It sounded like Gabriel, but he was back at the house, not in the Impala.

"Dude, what's you're problem?" Dean asked, giving him a strange look.

"I don't know. I could have sworn I just heard…" He didn't finish the though, knowing that Dean would think he was crazy.

"He's talking to you in your head, isn't he?" Dean asked knowingly.

"What?"

"Gabriel," he said. "Cas does it all the time. It was really unnerving at first, but you get used to it. Just one of the perks of banging an Angel," he grinned.


	63. Questionable

"You remember what I said about not missing this?" Dean asked as they walked out of a warehouse, both covered in something, though neither really wanted to know what. It was green and gooey and had chunks of God knew what floating in it. "I meant it. I don't miss this." He flung a bit of goo that had fallen into his eyes.

"I hear ya," Sam nodded as they walked toward the car.

"Oh no, my baby!" Dean exclaimed. Somehow, she too had managed to get covered in the substance as well. Sam rolled his eyes as Dean got teary eyed at the sight of his car.

"Lets just get back," Sam said, opening the door.

"I swear, if this junk eats away any her upholstery," Dean said as the clambered into the car. "Someone's gonna die."

Sam didn't think it was really necessary to point out that the 'person' responsible for the goo was, technically, already dead, but he said it anyway.

They had wrapped the case up quickly and it was only Friday when they got back home. Strange, how Sam was starting to think of the place as home.

"Hey, drop me off here," Sam said at they passed a convenience store.

"Sure. Why?" Dean asked, slowing down.

"Wanted to pick something up for Gabriel," he shrugged.

"You girl," Dean snickered.

"Yeah, says the guy who spent three hours baking cookies last week."

Dean stuck his tongue out childishly and sped off down the road. Sam rolled his eyes and walked into the store to get some candy. He walked back out five minutes later and started toward the house. As he walked past a hotel, he heard a familiar laugh. He turned in time to see two women (both of _questionable_ moral fiber he might add) escorting Gabriel into a hotel room.

Gabriel.

"Good news Sammy," Dean said when Sam returned. "Gabriel's feeling better. Cas said he just went into town a little bit ago. He should be back soon."

Sam nodded slowly and headed up the stairs.

"Okay," Dean shrugged, turning back to Cas' latest pie, which look slightly as though it had already been eaten.


	64. Cheat

Gabriel entered their shared room happily and with a bounce in his step.

"Sammy, you're back," he said with a grin, then planted a kiss on him.

Only, Sam didn't return the kiss. Gabriel pulled away.

"What's the matter?" Gabriel asked.

Sam practically snorted as he took a step backward.

"Sam?" Gabriel questioned, reaching out for him; Sam shied away. "What is it?"

"You're good at that. Pretending you really have no idea what's going on."

"What are you talking about Sam?"

"Don't keep denying it, I _saw_ you. With them."

"With who!"

"Them! Those whores! I saw you in town with them just a little while ago!"

"Sam, I don't know what you're talking about? I was gone for maybe half an hour; I went to the store to get root beer lollypops. I didn't even talk to anyone."

Sam shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you. You're going to keep lying, even though _I saw you._"

"Sam-" Gabriel started.

"No," Sam shook his head again and headed for the door. "I don't want to hear it. I'm leaving."

Sam stormed though the house and out the door, leaving Gabriel standing in their room, shell shocked.

Cas and Dean had been standing in the kitchen talking when it went down.

"What just happened?" Cas asked.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. Everything was fine when I dropped him off at the store."

They heard Sam's car start up, then speed down the road.

"Where the hell is he going?" Dean asked, picking up his phone to call him. There was no answer. "I'm going after him."

Cas reached out and took his arm. "I think you should let him cool down," he said. "I will talk to Gabriel, see what happened. You can feed Robbie."

"Aww," Becky pouted. "That's so sad. I feel so bad for them."

"Them? I feel bad for Sam. He's the one who had the boyfriend cheat on him."

Becky scowled at him. "No way. I don't believe he did it. There's no way."

"He saw him Becks. _I_ saw him."

"I still don't buy it," she said with a shrug. "Something else is going on. They love each other too much."

"If you say to," Chuck replied, not so sure.

"They'll get back together, I just know it... They will get back together, right?"


End file.
